How to write a synthèse in French

What a synthèse is — and isn't

A synthèse merges several documents into one short, new text. You don't summarise each document in turn, you don't quote, and you never give your own opinion. Think of yourself as a neutral reporter explaining what the documents say together.

• 🔊Les deux documents s'accordent sur l'urgence du problème.Both documents agree that the problem is urgent.
• 🔊Ils divergent en revanche sur les solutions.They differ, however, on the solutions.

Organise by idea, not by document

The most common mistake is a plan that goes « Document 1 says…, then document 2 says… ». Instead, build two or three parts around ideas, and inside each part show where the documents agree and where they differ. Start with a one-sentence problématique that links them all.

• 🔊Il s'agit de se demander si la ville peut se passer de la voiture.The question is whether the city can do without the car.
• 🔊I. Un constat partagé — II. Des solutions qui divergentI. A shared diagnosis — II. Differing solutions

Swap « dire » for a precise verb

« L'auteur dit que… » is too vague at C1. Each reporting verb tells your reader what the author is doing: stating a fact, stressing, criticising, recommending, questioning. Picking the verb that matches the author's intention is already half of reformulating.

• 🔊L'auteur constate une hausse des loyers.The author notes a rise in rents. (neutral)
• 🔊L'auteur déplore la hausse des loyers.The author laments the rise in rents. (critical)

Reformulate, don't copy

Examiners penalise sentences lifted straight from the documents. Change the structure, not just one word: turn a verb into a noun, change the subject, use a synonym. Names, figures and technical terms can stay as they are.

• 🔊Texte : « Les jeunes lisent de moins en moins de livres. »Text: « Young people read fewer and fewer books. »
• 🔊Synthèse : L'auteur constate un recul de la lecture chez les jeunes.Synthesis: The author notes a decline in reading among young people.

Why nominalise?

Nominalisation means turning a verb into a noun. It packs a whole clause into a few words — exactly what a 220-word synthèse needs — and it makes the tone more neutral and formal. It's also an easy way to avoid copying the original sentence.

• 🔊Les prix ont augmenté, ce qui inquiète les ménages.Prices have risen, which worries households.
• 🔊L'augmentation des prix inquiète les ménages.The rise in prices worries households.

Endings and genders

Nouns ending in -tion, -sion and -ure are usually feminine; nouns in -ment and -age are usually masculine (but la page, l'image, la plage). Some nouns have no ending at all: la baisse, le recul, le recours. After the noun, the old object follows with de, and the old subject with par.

• 🔊Le gouvernement a supprimé les subventions.The government abolished the subsidies.
• 🔊la suppression des subventions par le gouvernementthe abolition of subsidies by the government

Connectors are the skeleton of a synthèse

Because you're blending several sources, your reader needs signposts: addition (en outre, par ailleurs), contrast (en revanche, néanmoins) and consequence (dès lors). Vary them — the same connector twice in 220 words looks weak.

• 🔊En outre, l'étude souligne le coût du projet.Furthermore, the study stresses the project's cost.
• 🔊Néanmoins, cette solution présente des limites.Nevertheless, this solution has its limits.

Saying it again without repeating it

Use ce dernier / cette dernière for the last person or thing you named, vary how you refer to sources (l'économiste, la chercheuse, un article de presse) rather than « le document 1 », and use pronouns. Quant à lets you switch smoothly to another source or group.

• 🔊Le ministre a rencontré la maire ; cette dernière a promis de nouveaux crédits.The minister met the mayor; the latter promised new funding.
• 🔊Quant à l'économiste, il se montre plus prudent.As for the economist, he is more cautious.

Scene: Aminata's synthèse

Aminata, a master's student in Dakar, is practising for the DALF. Her dossier: a text by a teacher from Ziguinchor, who argues that children learn to read faster in their mother tongue, and one by an economist, who warns that French remains the language of jobs and mobility. Help her turn the two texts into one neutral synthèse.