Learn French: Qu'est-ce que nous offrons à l'hôte ?

Qu'est-ce que nous offrons à l'hôte ?

What are we giving to the host?

Breakdown of Qu'est-ce que nous offrons à l'hôte ?

nous

we / us (object pronoun)

at / to / in (general locations) / about (what one thinks about / reacts to)

him, it (masculine direct object pronoun)

qu'est-ce que

what (in questions)

Questions & Answers about Qu'est-ce que nous offrons à l'hôte ?

Why does offrir use the ending -ons here?

Offrir (to offer or to give) is one of a few irregular -ir verbs that borrow their endings from regular -er verbs. To form the nous form, you drop the -ir and add -ons, making it nous offrons.

The English translation says 'giving', but shouldn't that be donner?

In French, offrir is the standard verb used when giving a gift. Using donner (to give) just means physically handing something to someone, so offrir is much better for presents!

French doesn't have an '-ing' form here. How do we know it means 'are we giving'?

French does not have a separate 'present continuous' tense like English does. The simple present tense nous offrons covers both 'we give' and 'we are giving'. The context tells you which one sounds best in English.

Why is it l'hôte instead of le hôte?

The letter H at the start of hôte is completely silent. Because the word essentially starts with a vowel sound, the word le (the) drops its E and attaches directly to the noun to make pronunciation smoother.