Learn French: Elle ajoute de la crème dans le café. - She adds some cream to the coffee.

Elle ajoute de la crème dans le café.

She adds some cream to the coffee.

Breakdown of Elle ajoute de la crème dans le café.

Questions & Answers about Elle ajoute de la crème dans le café.

Why is it de la crème and not just la crème?

Crème (cream) is an uncountable noun here. When you want to say 'some' of a mass noun or food, French requires a partitive article. Since crème is feminine, we use de la.

Why does the sentence use le café instead of du café at the end?

She is adding cream to a specific cup of coffee that is already made, so we use the definite article le (the). If she were pouring 'some coffee' in general, you would use du café.

The English translation says she adds cream 'to' the coffee. Why does French use dans?

Dans means 'in' or 'inside'. In French, it is more natural to say you put an ingredient in the coffee, because you are physically mixing it into the liquid.

What is the infinitive of ajoute?

It comes from the regular -er verb ajouter (to add). Because the subject is elle, we drop the -er and add an -e to get ajoute.