Breakdown of Elle ouvre une bouteille de vin.
un
a / an (masculine)
elle
she
de
of / from / any (in negative sentences) / about (concerning)
ouvrir
to open
Questions & Answers about Elle ouvre une bouteille de vin.
Wait, ouvrir ends in -ir. Shouldn't the 'elle' form end in -it?
Ouvrir (to open) is a special irregular verb. Even though it has an -ir ending, it borrows its present tense endings from regular -er verbs. That is why the elle form is ouvre (just like elle mange or elle parle), rather than elle ouvrit.
Why does it say de vin and not du vin?
This is a strict rule for quantities! When you specify a container or an amount (like une bouteille, a bottle), you always follow it with a plain de (or d' before a vowel). You only use du when you are talking about an unspecified amount of a masculine noun, like if she were just drinking 'some wine' (Elle boit du vin).
Since ouvre starts with a vowel, why doesn't Elle get shortened with an apostrophe?
The word elle (she) never drops its final -e to combine with the next word. We only use apostrophes (a process called elision) for short words like je, le, la, ne, or me. So it remains two separate words: Elle ouvre.
Is there a trick to remembering that bouteille is feminine?