Tu parles très bien espagnol.

Questions & Answers about Tu parles très bien espagnol.

Why does parles end in an 's' if we don't pronounce it?
For regular -er verbs, the tu (informal "you") form always ends in -s. So, the verb parler (to speak) becomes tu parles. Even though you must write that -s, it is completely silent. It sounds exactly the same as je parle (I speak) and il/elle parle (he/she speaks).
Why is très bien placed before the language? In English we put it at the end of the sentence.
In French, short adverbs like bien (well) or phrases like très bien (very well) usually go directly after the conjugated verb. Instead of saving it for the end, French places it right after parles, giving us the literal word order: "You speak very well Spanish."
Why is there no word for "the" before espagnol?
Normally, French uses definite articles (like le or la) with languages, as in l'espagnol (the Spanish language). However, there is a special exception for the verb parler: when you say you speak a language, the article is usually dropped. You just say tu parles espagnol or je parle français.
Shouldn't espagnol be capitalized?
Unlike in English, names of languages are never capitalized in French. You will always see espagnol, anglais, and français written with lowercase letters. They are only capitalized when referring to the people from that country, like les Espagnols (the Spaniards).

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