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Le médecin nous prescrit des vitamines parce que nous sommes fatigués.

Le médecin nous prescrit des vitamines parce que nous sommes fatigués.
The doctor is prescribing us some vitamins because we are tired.
From Lesson 105:Indirect object pronouns 1 (me, te, nous, vous)·French

Questions & Answers about Le médecin nous prescrit des vitamines parce que nous sommes fatigués.

Why does nous come before the verb in nous prescrit?
In French, indirect object pronouns like nous (meaning "to us" or "us") usually go directly before the conjugated verb. So instead of saying "The doctor prescribes to us", the sentence structure is literally "The doctor to us prescribes" (Le médecin nous prescrit).
The word nous appears twice. Does it mean "we" both times?
No, they have different jobs here! The first nous is an indirect object pronoun meaning "to us" (receiving the prescription). The second nous is a subject pronoun meaning "we" (doing the action of being tired). Unlike English, which changes "we" to "us", French uses nous for both. You can tell them apart because the subject usually comes first, while the object pronoun is tucked right in front of the verb.
The English translation says "is prescribing," but prescrit is the simple present tense. Why?
French does not have a separate "is doing" (present continuous) tense like English does. The simple present tense prescrit translates to both "prescribes" and "is prescribing." You just use the standard present tense to describe what the doctor is doing right now.
Why is there an -s at the end of fatigués?
Fatigués is an adjective describing the subject nous (we). Because nous is a plural subject, you must add an -s to make the adjective plural, too. If the "we" group were made up entirely of women, it would be spelled with an extra "e" as well: fatiguées.
Why is it des vitamines and not les vitamines?
Des is the plural indefinite article, equivalent to "some" in English. The doctor is prescribing "some vitamins" in general, not specific vitamins that were previously mentioned (which would use the definite article les).

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