Breakdown of Nous vivons un mariage heureux.
un
a / an (masculine)
nous
we / us (object pronoun)
heureux
happy (deeply joyful)
vivre
to live, to experience
Questions & Answers about Nous vivons un mariage heureux.
Why is vivons translated as 'experiencing' instead of 'living' here?
Is vivre conjugated like a normal '-re' verb?
No, vivre is highly irregular! For the nous form, we use the stem viv- and add the standard ending -ons, giving us nous vivons. Remember that the singular forms drop the 'v' entirely: je vis, tu vis, il vit.
Why does heureux come after mariage?
In French, most adjectives are placed after the noun they describe. Only a specific short list of common adjectives describing Beauty, Age, Goodness, and Size (often called BAGS adjectives) go before the noun. Since heureux (happy) doesn't fit into those exceptions, it goes after the noun.
Would the spelling of heureux change if it were 'happy marriages' in the plural?
No, it would stay exactly the same. Masculine adjectives that already end in -x or -s in the singular do not add an extra -s for the plural.