Learn French: Je suis bloqué sur le pont parce qu'il y a un accident grave. - I am stuck on the bridge because there is a serious accident.

Je suis bloqué sur le pont parce qu'il y a un accident grave.

I am stuck on the bridge because there is a serious accident.

Breakdown of Je suis bloqué sur le pont parce qu'il y a un accident grave.

Questions & Answers about Je suis bloqué sur le pont parce qu'il y a un accident grave.

Why does the lesson word parce que change to parce qu' here?

Because the following word (il) starts with a vowel. To avoid two vowel sounds clashing, parce que drops its final e and adds an apostrophe, merging with the next word to create parce qu'il.

What does il y a mean after parce qu'?

il y a is a must-know French phrase that means "there is" or "there are". So the whole chunk parce qu'il y a translates smoothly to "because there is".

I thought adjectives go before nouns sometimes. Why is grave after accident?

Most French adjectives go after the noun, like un accident grave (an accident serious). Only a specific short list of common adjectives (like those for beauty, age, goodness, and size) go before the noun.

Does the word bloqué (stuck) change depending on who is speaking?

Yes. If the person who is stuck is female, she must add an e to the end, spelling it bloquée. It sounds identical when spoken, but the written form must match the gender of the person it describes.