Question 1

Why is there a des in this sentence? In English, we just say "These are French students."

Accepted Answer

In French, you almost always need an article (a little word like "a" or "the") before a noun. Since étudiants is plural, we use the plural indefinite article des. It acts like the plural form of un or une. While it sometimes translates to "some", here it just doesn't translate to anything in English.

Question 2

Why use Ce sont instead of Ils sont for "These are"?

Accepted Answer

We use ce sont (the plural of c'est) when we identify or introduce people or things using a noun. If you just used an adjective, like "They are French," you would use Ils sont français. But because we are using a noun phrase (des étudiants), we must use Ce sont.

Question 3

Do I pronounce the "s" at the end of des and étudiants?

Accepted Answer

You do not pronounce the "s" at the end of étudiants, but you do pronounce the "s" in des. Because étudiants starts with a vowel, the "s" in des connects to it and makes a "z" sound. This connection is called a liaison, making it sound like "dez-étudiants".

Question 4

Why doesn't the adjective français get an extra "s" for the plural?

Accepted Answer

Usually, you add an "s" to make a word plural. However, because the singular masculine word for French (français) already ends in an "s", you don't add another one. The spelling stays exactly the same for both singular and plural masculine nouns! Also notice that like most descriptive adjectives in French, français comes after the noun.

Ce sont des étudiants français.

Breakdown of Ce sont des étudiants français.

Questions & Answers about Ce sont des étudiants français.

Learn Ce sont des étudiants français and more in French