Learn French: Nous préparons le dîner ensemble ? - Are we preparing dinner together?

Nous préparons le dîner ensemble ?

Are we preparing dinner together?

Breakdown of Nous préparons le dîner ensemble ?

nous

we / us (object pronoun)

Questions & Answers about Nous préparons le dîner ensemble ?

Why is there no question word or switched word order here?

This is called an intonation question! In spoken French, you can turn a regular statement like Nous préparons le dîner (We are preparing dinner) into a yes/no question just by making your voice go up at the end. It's the most common way to ask questions in everyday conversation.

Why does the translation say "are preparing" if there is no word for "are" in the French sentence?

French doesn't have a separate "am/is/are doing" form. The single verb préparons means both "we prepare" and "we are preparing". You just pick whichever sounds most natural in English!

Why is it le dîner instead of just dîner?

In French, nouns almost always need a little word like le (the) or un (a) in front of them, even in cases where English leaves them out. So instead of saying "preparing dinner", French says "preparing the dinner".

Could I say Nous préparons ensemble le dîner?

You will usually hear ensemble placed at the very end of a short sentence like this. While putting it right after the verb isn't strictly wrong, Nous préparons le dîner ensemble sounds much more natural.