Breakdown of C'est dangereux, ne vous penchez pas !
être
to be
ce
it / this (with être)
ne
not (used before the verb)
pas
not (used after the verb)
se pencher
to lean
dangereux
dangerous
Questions & Answers about C'est dangereux, ne vous penchez pas !
Why does vous come before the verb here? I thought commands put the pronoun at the end (like penchez-vous).
That rule changes when the command is negative! For positive commands (telling someone to do something), the pronoun attaches to the end with a hyphen: penchez-vous (lean out). But in negative commands, the pronoun goes back to its normal spot right before the verb: ne vous penchez pas (do not lean out).
If I am warning a friend, how do I change the vous to the tu form?
If you are speaking to one person informally (like a friend or child), you use the reflexive pronoun te and drop the "s" from the tu verb form. It becomes: ne te penche pas !
Why do we use a reflexive pronoun (vous) here at all? Does the verb "to lean" always require it?
Yes, when you are talking about a person leaning their own body, French uses the reflexive verb se pencher. If you just used the base verb pencher without a reflexive pronoun, it would mean you are physically tilting or leaning an object (like leaning a ladder against a wall).
Why is it c'est dangereux instead of il est dangereux for "It is dangerous"?
We use c'est followed by a masculine singular adjective (dangereux) to describe a general situation, action, or idea—in this case, the act of leaning out. You would only use il est dangereux if "it" referred back to a specific masculine noun you were just talking about, like un chien (a dog) or un pont (a bridge).
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