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Ils célèbrent un succès aujourd'hui.

Ils célèbrent un succès aujourd'hui.
They are celebrating a success today.
From Lesson 83:Accent stem changes (é to è)·French

Questions & Answers about Ils célèbrent un succès aujourd'hui.

Why does célèbrent have an è instead of an é like its dictionary form célébrer?
Célébrer is a stem-changing verb. In the present tense, whenever the verb ending is silent (like the -ent for ils), the last é in the stem changes to an è. This shifts the pronunciation from a sharp 'ay' sound to a softer 'eh' sound. This happens for je, tu, il/elle, and ils/elles, but it goes back to é for nous and vous.
Do I pronounce the -ent at the end of célèbrent?
No, the -ent ending on conjugated French verbs is always completely silent. You pronounce this word as if it ended at the r (sounding roughly like sell-ehb-ruh). The -ent is just there in the spelling to show that the subject is plural.
Why is there an s at the end of succès if they are only celebrating one success?
Some French nouns naturally end in s even in their singular form, and un succès is one of them. The handy part about words already ending in s, x, or z is that you don't add anything to make them plural. So, des succès (some successes) is spelled exactly the same!
The English translation says 'are celebrating.' Why isn't the verb être (to be) used here?
French doesn't use a 'to be + -ing' structure for actions happening right now like English does. The simple present tense in French handles both meanings. Therefore, Ils célèbrent automatically translates to both 'They celebrate' and 'They are celebrating' depending on the context.

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