Breakdown of On visite une nouvelle exposition aujourd'hui.
une
a / an (feminine)
on
one / we (informal)
visiter
to visit
nouveau
new
aujourd'hui
today
l'exposition
the exhibition (f)
Questions & Answers about On visite une nouvelle exposition aujourd'hui.
Why does the sentence use on visite instead of nous visitons if it means "we are visiting"?
In everyday spoken French, on is almost always used instead of nous to say "we". Even though it means "we", on always takes the same verb form as il or elle (he or she). That is why we say on visite instead of using the "we" form of the verb.
The translation says "are visiting", but where is the word for "are" in French?
French doesn't have a separate "am/is/are + doing" form like English does. The single present tense verb visite translates to both "visit" and "are visiting" depending on what makes sense in the context of the sentence.
Why is nouvelle placed before exposition? I thought French adjectives usually go after the noun.
You are right that most French adjectives come after the noun! However, a short list of common adjectives describing Beauty, Age, Goodness, and Size (often called the BAGS rule) go before the noun. Nouvelle (new) is an adjective of Age, so it comes first.
Why is the word for new nouvelle here instead of nouveau?
Adjectives must match the gender of the noun they describe. Because exposition is a feminine noun (which we can see from the feminine word une), we must use the feminine form nouvelle instead of the masculine form nouveau.
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