Questions & Answers about Des arbres et des fleurs sont ici.
Why do we say des twice if the English translation only says "some" once?
In English, you can say "some trees and flowers" and the word "some" applies to both. In French, you cannot skip it; you must repeat the article before every noun. So, it is written as "some trees and some flowers" (des arbres et des fleurs). Do I pronounce the s at the end of arbres and fleurs to show they are plural?
No, the plural s at the end of regular French nouns is almost always silent. When speaking, the listener knows the words are plural because they hear the plural article des right before them. I hear a "z" sound in des arbres. Where does that come from?
This is called a liaison! The word des normally ends with a silent s. However, because the next word (arbres) starts with a vowel, that hidden s wakes up and is pronounced like a "z" to link the words together smoothly. I learned that "are" is êtes. Why do we use sont here?
The word êtes is only used with vous (you). Here, the subject of the sentence is "trees and flowers", which is a plural "they". The "they" form of the verb être (to be) is sont, which is why we use it here. Is the t at the end of sont silent?
Usually yes, but not in this sentence! Because sont is directly followed by ici, which starts with a vowel, you make another liaison. You will hear the t connect to the i, making it sound a bit like "son-teesy". Learn Des arbres et des fleurs sont ici and more in French
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