Breakdown of L'équipe ne s'entraîne jamais sérieusement.
ne
not (used before the verb)
l'équipe
the team (f)
s'entraîner
to work out / to train
jamais
never / ever
la
her, it (feminine direct object pronoun)
sérieusement
seriously
Questions & Answers about L'équipe ne s'entraîne jamais sérieusement.
How do we get the adverb sérieusement from the adjective?
Why is there no pas in this sentence?
The negative structure ne ... jamais (never) replaces ne ... pas (not). You wrap ne and jamais around the conjugated verb exactly like you do with pas, so you never use both together.
A team is a group of people, so why is the verb s'entraîne conjugated in the singular?
Even though a team represents multiple people, the word l'équipe is a singular noun (one team). Because of this, it takes the third-person singular verb conjugation, just like elle (she).
Why is there an s' before entraîne?
This uses the reflexive verb s'entraîner (to train or practice). If you just used entraîner without the reflexive pronoun se (which shortens to s' before a vowel), it would mean to train someone else, like a coach training a player.
Why is sérieusement placed after jamais?
In French, adverbs generally go right after the conjugated verb. However, negative words like pas or jamais hug the verb very tightly. Longer adverbs of manner, like those ending in -ment, are usually placed after the negative structure.
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