Learn French: Je félicite mon équipe parce que nous vivons un événement formidable. - I congratulate my team because we are experiencing a wonderful event.

Je félicite mon équipe parce que nous vivons un événement formidable.

I congratulate my team because we are experiencing a wonderful event.

Breakdown of Je félicite mon équipe parce que nous vivons un événement formidable.

a / an (masculine)

nous

we / us (object pronoun)

parce que

because

Questions & Answers about Je félicite mon équipe parce que nous vivons un événement formidable.

Why is vivre translated as "are experiencing" instead of "living"?

While vivre literally means "to live", French speakers frequently use it to mean "to experience" or "to go through" a situation. So, nous vivons un événement perfectly translates to "we are experiencing an event."

How do you form the nous form of the irregular verb vivre?

For the plural forms, the stem of vivre becomes viv-. You then add the regular present tense endings, giving us nous vivons (we live/are living), vous vivez, and ils/elles vivent.

Since équipe is a feminine noun, why does the sentence use mon instead of ma?

Whenever a feminine word starts with a vowel or a silent h, you must use the masculine possessive adjectives (mon, ton, son). Ma équipe would have two vowels crashing into each other, so French uses mon équipe to make pronunciation smoother.

Is formidable a negative word here, like "formidable" (intimidating) in English?

Not at all! Formidable is a common "false friend." In French, it is a very positive adjective that means "wonderful," "great," or "fantastic."

The English translation says "we are experiencing." Why isn't there a word for "are" in the French sentence?