Breakdown of Vous êtes un collègue ? Enchanté !
être
to be
un
a / an (masculine)
vous
you (plural/formal)
le collègue
the colleague
enchanté
nice to meet you
Questions & Answers about Vous êtes un collègue ? Enchanté !
Why is it Vous êtes if the sentence translates to "Are you"? Shouldn't the words be swapped?
How do we know if Vous means one person or multiple people here?
The word collègue ends in an 'e'. Doesn't that mean it should be feminine (une collègue)?
Not always! While many French words ending in 'e' are feminine, collègue can be either masculine or feminine depending on the person you are talking about. Because the speaker uses the masculine word un, we know they are talking to a male colleague. If it were a female colleague, it would be une collègue.
Does Enchanté change if the person speaking is a woman?
Yes! Enchanté acts like an adjective describing the person who is speaking (it literally means "enchanted" or "delighted"). If a man is speaking, he spells it Enchanté. If a woman is speaking, she adds an extra 'e' to make it feminine: Enchantée. Both versions sound exactly the same when spoken out loud, though!
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