Learn French: Où sont les jouets ? Je les range. - Where are the toys? I am putting them away.

Où sont les jouets ? Je les range.

Where are the toys? I am putting them away.

Breakdown of Où sont les jouets ? Je les range.

to tidy / to put away

Questions & Answers about Où sont les jouets ? Je les range.

Why does the second sentence put les before the verb?

In English, we say "I put them away," placing "them" after the verb. In French, direct object pronouns like les (them) must go before the conjugated verb. So, it translates literally as "I them put away" (Je les range).

Wait, doesn't les mean "the"?

It does in the first sentence! Les is the plural word for "the" (les jouets = the toys). But in the second sentence, les acts as a pronoun meaning "them", replacing the toys so we don't have to repeat the word. French uses the exact same word for both!

Does range mean "put away"? I thought it meant "to tidy".

It means both! The verb ranger means to put things in their proper place. If you are talking about a whole room, it means "to tidy". When talking about specific objects like toys, it translates perfectly to "putting away".

Why doesn't range have an "s" at the end if the toys are plural?

The verb ending always matches the subject (the person doing the action), not the object being acted upon. Here, the subject is je (I), so the regular -er verb ending for ranger is just -e.