Learn French: Notre oncle est fermier et il a une grande ferme. - Our uncle is a farmer and he has a large farm.

Notre oncle est fermier et il a une grande ferme.

Our uncle is a farmer and he has a large farm.

Breakdown of Notre oncle est fermier et il a une grande ferme.

Questions & Answers about Notre oncle est fermier et il a une grande ferme.

Why is there no un before fermier?

In French, when stating someone's profession right after the verb être (to be), you drop the indefinite article (un or une). You simply say est fermier, rather than est un fermier.

Why is it grande ferme instead of ferme grande?

Most adjectives in French come right after the noun. However, short and common adjectives that describe Beauty, Age, Number, Goodness, or Size (often remembered as the BANGS rule) come before the noun. Grande describes size, so it goes before ferme.

How do we know whether to use notre or nos for "our"?

You choose between notre and nos based on the noun that comes after it, not the people who own it. Because there is only one uncle here (oncle is singular), we use notre. If we were talking about multiple uncles, we would use nos oncles.

How would we use the pronoun en to say "he has a large one" without repeating the word for farm?

You would say il en a une grande. The pronoun en jumps in front of the verb a to replace the idea of the farm, but you must still keep une grande at the end to specify the quantity (one) and the description (large).