Question 1

Why does pas come before remarqué instead of after it?

Accepted Answer

In the passé composé (past tense), the negative pieces (ne ... pas) go around the helper verb, not the whole verb. Here, the helper verb is avez. So, the negative words wrap around avez to make n'avez pas, and the past participle remarqué (noticed) sits on the outside.

Question 2

Why is it n'avez and not ne avez?

Accepted Answer

The word ne drops its e and gets an apostrophe because the next word (avez) starts with a vowel. This makes the phrase flow better when speaking.

Question 3

How do we know this is a question when the words are in the same order as a normal sentence?

Accepted Answer

In everyday spoken French, you can turn a regular statement into a question simply by raising the pitch of your voice at the end. This is often much more common than adding Est-ce que or swapping the word order around!

Question 4

Why do we use ce for 'this document'?

Accepted Answer

Ce is the word for 'this' or 'that' when it comes before a masculine, singular noun. Since document is masculine, we use ce document. If the noun were feminine, you would use cette instead.

Question 5

How can I tell if erreur is masculine or feminine since it uses l'?

Accepted Answer

You can't tell just from looking at l'erreur! The word erreur is feminine (une erreur). But because it starts with a vowel, the feminine word for 'the' (la) shrinks down to l' to avoid having two vowel sounds right next to each other.

Vous n'avez pas remarqué l'erreur dans ce document ?

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