J'achète ce poisson et ce pain.

Questions & Answers about J'achète ce poisson et ce pain.

Why do we use ce for both fish and bread here instead of cette?
Both poisson (fish) and pain (bread) are masculine singular nouns that start with a consonant. Therefore, they both use the masculine singular demonstrative adjective ce (meaning this or that). If either word were feminine, you would use cette.
Could ce also mean that instead of this?
Yes, it can mean both! French doesn't have separate basic words for this and that. The word ce (and its other forms like cette, cet, and ces) covers both meanings. You usually know which one makes sense based on the situation.
Why does achète have an accent mark when the infinitive verb acheter does not?
Acheter (to buy) changes its spelling slightly for certain pronouns. For je, tu, il/elle, and ils/elles, a grave accent is added to the first e to make achète. This changes the pronunciation from a soft uh sound to a clearer eh sound.
Why is it J'achète and not Je achète?
When je (I) is followed by a word starting with a vowel (like the a in achète) or a silent h, you drop the e and add an apostrophe. This prevents two vowel sounds from crashing into each other and makes the words flow together smoothly.

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