Learn French: Les étudiants sont très jeunes.

Les étudiants sont très jeunes.

The students are very young.

Breakdown of Les étudiants sont très jeunes.

Questions & Answers about Les étudiants sont très jeunes.

Why do we use les here instead of l' or le?

Les is the plural word for "the" in French. You use it for all plural nouns, whether they are masculine or feminine. Since there is more than one student, we use les instead of the singular l'étudiant.

Do you pronounce the 's' at the end of les?

Yes, you do! Usually, the 's' in les is silent. But when the next word starts with a vowel sound, like étudiants, the 's' is pronounced like a "z" and connects to the next word. This spoken link is called a liaison.

Does les étudiants mean a group of male students or female students?

It can mean a group of all male students or a mixed group of males and females. If it were a group of only female students, the noun would change to étudiantes, but the word for "the" would still be les.

Why is there an 's' at the end of jeunes?

In French, describing words (adjectives) must match the noun they describe. Because les étudiants is plural, you must add an 's' to jeune (young) to make it plural too. Note that this 's' is completely silent when spoken!

Why do we use the verb sont?