Log inSign up

Ce placard est sale, il faut le nettoyer.

Ce placard est sale, il faut le nettoyer.
This cupboard is dirty, you have to clean it.
From Lesson 68:Direct object pronouns (le, la, les, l')·French

Questions & Answers about Ce placard est sale, il faut le nettoyer.

Why do we use le for "it" in this sentence instead of la?
The pronoun le replaces the noun ce placard (this cupboard). Since placard is a masculine singular noun in French, we must use the masculine singular pronoun le to mean "it".
Why is le placed right before nettoyer and not before faut?
In French, an object pronoun like le goes immediately before the verb it is connected to. Because the action happening to the cupboard is cleaning, le goes right in front of the infinitive verb nettoyer (to clean), giving us le nettoyer (to clean it).
I learned that il means "he". Why is il faut translated as "you have to"?
Il faut is a special, fixed expression meaning "it is necessary" or "one must." The il here doesn't refer to a specific person like "he". While the sentence literally means "it is necessary to clean it," in everyday English we usually translate this as "you have to" or "we need to" clean it.
Why do we use ce for "this" instead of c'est?
Ce is a word used to point at a specific masculine noun, meaning "this" or "that" (this cupboard = ce placard). C'est means "it is" or "this is". If you wrote c'est placard, it would incorrectly mean "this is cupboard".

Learn Ce placard est sale, il faut le nettoyer and more in French

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning French →