Learn French: Elle paie le camion électrique, celui à côté de la porte. - She is paying for the electric truck, the one next to the door.

Elle paie le camion électrique, celui à côté de la porte.

She is paying for the electric truck, the one next to the door.

Breakdown of Elle paie le camion électrique, celui à côté de la porte.

Questions & Answers about Elle paie le camion électrique, celui à côté de la porte.

Why do we use celui in this sentence?

Celui translates to "the one" here. Because it refers back to le camion (the truck), which is masculine and singular, we must use the masculine singular demonstrative pronoun celui. If she were buying a car (la voiture), we would use the feminine celle.

Why doesn't celui have a suffix like -ci or -là attached to it?

You usually add -ci or -là when you are just saying "this one" (celui-ci) or "that one" (celui-là). However, when celui is immediately followed by a descriptive phrase starting with a preposition (like à côté de - next to), you drop the suffix. It acts as a bridge to say "the one next to...".

The English translation says she is paying "for" the truck. Why isn't there a word like pour after paie?

In French, the verb payer directly takes the item you are buying as its object. You don't need to add pour (for) when talking about paying for goods or services. You simply say Elle paie le camion (She pays the truck).

I've seen the verb "to pay" conjugated as paye. Is paie also correct?