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Elles couvrent la table de fleurs.

Elles couvrent la table de fleurs.
They cover the table with flowers.
From Lesson 90:Irregular -ir verbs with regular endings (ouvrir, offrir)·French

Questions & Answers about Elles couvrent la table de fleurs.

Since couvrir is an -ir verb, why does it end in -ent instead of -issent here?
Couvrir (to cover) belongs to a special family of irregular -ir verbs that use standard -er verb endings. This is the exact same pattern you see with ouvrir (to open) and offrir (to offer). To conjugate it for elles, you drop the -ir and add -ent.
How do you pronounce the -ent at the end of couvrent?
You don't! The -ent ending on third-person plural verbs in French is completely silent. You pronounce couvrent exactly the same way you pronounce the singular form couvre.
Why does the sentence use de instead of avec for the English word "with"?
The verb couvrir (to cover) requires the preposition de when stating what you are covering something with. While avec is the direct translation of "with", many French verbs require a specific preposition, so it is best to memorize them together as a set phrase: couvrir de (to cover with).
Why is it just de fleurs and not de des fleurs?
Because the verb phrase couvrir de already requires de, adding the plural indefinite article des (which means "some") would create de des. French doesn't allow this clunky combination, so the des is simply dropped, leaving just de fleurs.

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