Learn French: Leur première récolte n'est pas meilleure.

Leur première récolte n'est pas meilleure.

Their first harvest is not better.

Breakdown of Leur première récolte n'est pas meilleure.

être

to be

not (used before the verb)

pas

not (used after the verb)

leur

their

Questions & Answers about Leur première récolte n'est pas meilleure.

Why does meilleure have an 'e' at the end here?

Meilleure is an adjective meaning 'better', so it has to agree with the noun it describes. Since récolte (harvest) is feminine and singular, we use the feminine form meilleure instead of the masculine meilleur.

Could I use mieux instead of meilleure in this sentence?

No. In French, meilleur is used to compare nouns (it is the 'better' form of the adjective bon, meaning 'good'). Mieux is used to compare verbs (it is the 'better' form of the adverb bien, meaning 'well'). Since we are describing the noun récolte, we must use meilleure.

Why is it Leur and not Leurs since 'their' implies multiple people?

In French, possessive words agree with the thing being owned, not the number of owners. Even though multiple people own the harvest, there is only one harvest in this sentence (récolte). Therefore, we use the singular leur. If they had multiple harvests, it would be leurs récoltes.

Why is it première instead of premier?

Just like meilleure, the word for 'first' must agree with the feminine noun récolte. Premier is the masculine form, and première is the feminine form.