Learn French: Oui, je ne peux pas travailler parce que j'ai de la fièvre et je tousse. - Yes, I cannot work because I have a fever and I am coughing.

Oui, je ne peux pas travailler parce que j'ai de la fièvre et je tousse.

Yes, I cannot work because I have a fever and I am coughing.

Breakdown of Oui, je ne peux pas travailler parce que j'ai de la fièvre et je tousse.

Questions & Answers about Oui, je ne peux pas travailler parce que j'ai de la fièvre et je tousse.

Why do we need the "que" in "parce que"? Can I just say "parce j'ai de la fièvre"?

No, you cannot drop the que. In French, parce que works together as a single phrase meaning "because". You always need the que to connect the first part of your sentence to the reason that follows.

Why does "pas" come before "travailler"?

In French, the negation sandwich (ne ... pas) only goes around the conjugated verb. Here, the conjugated verb is peux (can), so it wraps around that to make ne peux pas. The infinitive (unconjugated) verb travailler (to work) simply comes after.

Why does it say "de la fièvre" instead of "une fièvre" (a fever)?

In English we say "a fever", but in French, fever is treated as an uncountable concept. You use the feminine article for "some" (de la), so you are literally saying "I have some fever."

The English translation says "I am coughing", but the French is just "je tousse". Where is the "am"?

French doesn't have a separate "-ing" tense for things happening right now. The simple present tense je tousse covers both "I cough" (in general) and "I am coughing" (right now).