Breakdown of J'étudie l'espagnol avec un ami.
Questions & Answers about J'étudie l'espagnol avec un ami.
Why is it J'étudie instead of Je étudie?
Étudie comes from the regular -er verb étudier (to study). To make the je (I) form, you drop the -er and add an -e. Because étudie starts with a vowel, the pronoun je must drop its e and connect to the verb with an apostrophe. Why is there an l' before espagnol when the English translation just says "Spanish"?
In French, you almost always need a definite article (the words for "the": le, la, l', or les) before a noun, and this includes the names of languages! Because the word espagnol starts with a vowel, the masculine article le shrinks down to l'. Is it a typo that espagnol starts with a lowercase letter?
Not a typo! Unlike in English, the names of languages are never capitalized in French. How would I say this if I were studying with a female friend?
You would say avec une amie. To talk about a female friend, you change the masculine un ami to the feminine une amie. Notice that you change the article and add an e to the end of the noun! Learn J'étudie l'espagnol avec un ami and more in French
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free