Les voisins sont contents, ils ont une maison ici.

Questions & Answers about Les voisins sont contents, ils ont une maison ici.

This sentence uses both sont and ont. How do I tell them apart?
Sont means "are" (from the verb être), while ont means "have" (from the verb avoir). It is very common for beginners to mix them up! Here, les voisins sont means "the neighbors are", and ils ont means "they have".
How do I pronounce ils ont? Does it sound like "ils sont"?
They sound different, and listening to the first sound of the verb is the only way to tell them apart! For ils ont (they have), the "s" in ils links to the vowel "o" with a "Z" sound: "eel-zon". If you were to say ils sont (they are), it keeps the strong "S" sound from the word sont: "eel-sohn".
Why is there an "s" at the end of contents?
In French, describing words (adjectives) have to match the noun they describe. Because les voisins (the neighbors) is plural, we have to add an "s" to the singular word content to make it plural too.
If les voisins is masculine, does it mean this group is only men?
Not necessarily! While le voisin is a male neighbor and la voisine is a female neighbor, French uses the masculine plural form (les voisins) for mixed groups of men and women.

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