Learn French: Les fleurs sont sur la table. - The flowers are on the table.

Les fleurs sont sur la table.

The flowers are on the table.

Breakdown of Les fleurs sont sur la table.

Questions & Answers about Les fleurs sont sur la table.

Why does this sentence use les for "the"?

Les is the plural form of "the" in French. Because fleurs (flowers) is plural, we use les instead of the singular le or la. It does not matter if the noun is masculine or feminine; if it is plural, it always takes les.

Do I pronounce the "s" at the end of les and fleurs?

No, the "s" at the end of both les and fleurs is silent. In spoken French, you will usually only know a noun is plural by hearing the difference between the singular article (like la, pronounced "lah") and the plural article les (pronounced "lay").

Why is the verb sont used here?

Sont means "are". It is the "they" form of the verb être (to be). Since les fleurs (the flowers) is a plural subject, we treat it like "they", which means we must use sont.

Why does the sentence use la table at the end instead of les tables?

The sentence is talking about one specific table ("the table"), so it uses the singular feminine article la. Even though the flowers are plural (les fleurs), the table they are sitting on is singular.