Breakdown of La cuisine est sale. Est-ce que tu la nettoies ?
être
to be
tu
you (informal singular)
la cuisine
the kitchen
est-ce que
is it that / do / does (question marker)
sale
dirty
nettoyer
to clean
la
her, it (feminine direct object pronoun)
Questions & Answers about La cuisine est sale. Est-ce que tu la nettoies ?
Why does la come before the verb instead of after?
Why use la to say 'it'? Doesn't la mean 'her'?
It can mean both! In French, all objects have a grammatical gender. Because la cuisine (the kitchen) is feminine, you must use the feminine pronoun la to replace it. If you were talking about a masculine room like le salon (the living room), you would use le instead.
Why is the verb spelled nettoies with an 'i' instead of a 'y'?
The infinitive (base) verb is nettoyer (to clean). For verbs that end in -oyer, the y changes to an i in most present tense forms, including with tu (you). So it becomes tu nettoies.
Is sale related to the English word 'sale'?
No, sale is a classic "false friend"! In French, sale is an adjective that means "dirty". If you want to talk about shopping for a sale in a store, the French word is les soldes.
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