Breakdown of Je viens d'entendre la nouvelle à la radio.
je
I
à
at / to / in (general locations) / about (what one thinks about / reacts to)
entendre
to hear
venir
to come
le
him, it (masculine direct object pronoun)
la nouvelle
the piece of news
la radio
the radio
Questions & Answers about Je viens d'entendre la nouvelle à la radio.
How does viens d'entendre translate to 'just heard'?
Why is it d'entendre instead of de entendre?
The word de drops its 'e' and gets an apostrophe because the next word, entendre, starts with a vowel. This prevents two vowel sounds from clashing and makes the sentence flow better when speaking.
Why is nouvelle singular here when the English translation says 'news'?
Why does it say à la radio instead of using a word for 'on'?
Prepositions rarely match up perfectly between languages. While English says you hear something 'on' the radio, French uses the preposition à (at/to) for radio and TV broadcasts. So, 'on the radio' is always said as à la radio.
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