Question 1

Wait, does emprunter mean "to borrow" or "to lend"? I always mix these up.

Accepted Answer

Emprunter means "to borrow" (taking something temporarily). If you want to say "to lend" (giving something temporarily), you use prêter. A helpful trick: you borrow something from someone (emprunter à quelqu'un), but you lend something to someone (prêter à quelqu'un).

Question 2

Since this lesson is about the pronouns lui and leur, how would I say "Can I borrow your car from him?"

Accepted Answer

You would say Est-ce que je peux lui emprunter ta voiture ? Because you borrow something from someone (emprunter à quelqu'un), that person is an indirect object. To replace à lui (from him) or à elle (from her), you use the indirect object pronoun lui, and place it right before the infinitive verb emprunter.

Question 3

Why is emprunter left in its full dictionary form (infinitive) here?

Accepted Answer

Because it directly follows another verb that is already conjugated: peux (from pouvoir, meaning "can" or "to be able to"). In French, when you have two verbs back-to-back like this, the second one always stays in the infinitive. It's just like English: you say "I can borrow", not "I can borrows".

Question 4

Why is it ta voiture instead of ton voiture?

Accepted Answer

In French, possessive words like "your" must match the gender of the object being owned, not the gender of the owner. Voiture is a feminine word, so you must use the feminine ta, regardless of whether you are talking to a man or a woman.

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