Questions & Answers about Ce sont des chaises et des tables.
Why is there a des before chaises and tables when the English translation just says "chairs and tables"?
In French, you almost always need an article before a noun. des is the plural of un or une (a or an). While in English we can just say "chairs", French requires des chaises (which is a bit like saying "some chairs"). How do we make words like chaise and table plural here?
Just like in English, you usually add an s to the end of a noun to make it plural. So the singular chaise becomes chaises and table becomes tables. Do I pronounce the s at the end of chaises and tables?
No, the s at the end of regular plural nouns is silent in French. When someone is speaking, you actually know the words are plural because you hear the plural article des right before them! Why does the sentence start with Ce sont instead of C'est?
C'est means "it is" or "this is" and is used when pointing out a single thing. Because we are pointing out multiple things here (chairs and tables), we use the plural form Ce sont, which means "these are" or "they are". Do I really have to repeat des for both words?
Yes! In French, you must put an article in front of every single noun in a list. You cannot skip it and say des chaises et tables; it must be des chaises et des tables. Learn Ce sont des chaises et des tables and more in French
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