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Les usines ne peuvent plus polluer l'eau du lac.

Les usines ne peuvent plus polluer l'eau du lac.
The factories can no longer pollute the lake's water.
From Lesson 122:Comparing quantities of nouns (plus de... que)·French

Questions & Answers about Les usines ne peuvent plus polluer l'eau du lac.

Wait, the lesson is about plus de (more), so why does plus mean "no longer" here?
This is a very common trap! While plus de means "more," the combination of ne before the verb and plus after it creates the negative phrase ne ... plus, which means "no longer" or "not anymore." Because of the ne, this sentence means the factories can no longer pollute, rather than they can pollute more.
Do I pronounce the "s" at the end of plus in this sentence?
No. When plus is part of the negative ne ... plus (no longer/not anymore), the "s" is silent. You generally only pronounce the "s" when plus means "more" at the end of a phrase, or when making a liaison with a vowel sound.
Why does plus come before the second verb polluer?
In French, negative words like pas, jamais, or plus wrap around the conjugated verb. Here, the conjugated verb is peuvent (can). So, the negation ne ... plus hugs peuvent, and the infinitive verb polluer (to pollute) follows right after it.
Why is it du lac instead of just de lac or de le lac?
Du is the mandatory contraction of de (of) and le (the). Since lac (lake) is masculine, "the water of the lake" would literally be l'eau de le lac, but French grammar requires you to always squish de and le together into du.

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