Breakdown of Les astronautes pourront bientôt marcher sur Mars.
sur
on
bientôt
soon
marcher
to walk
pouvoir
to be able to / can
l'astronaute
the astronaut (m)
Mars
Mars
Questions & Answers about Les astronautes pourront bientôt marcher sur Mars.
Where does the form pourront come from?
How do I pronounce the double 'r' in pourront?
Why is bientôt placed in the middle of the verbs?
In French, short and common adverbs like bientôt (soon) are usually placed immediately after the conjugated verb (pourront) and before the infinitive verb (marcher). English often puts 'soon' at the very end of the sentence, but French prefers it tucked right after the conjugated verb.
Why doesn't marcher have a future tense ending too?
When you have two verbs back-to-back in a sentence, only the first one is conjugated. Pourront already carries the future tense and matches the subject, so the second verb, marcher, must stay in its full infinitive form. This perfectly mirrors the English 'will be able to walk'.
Why is there no article before Mars, like sur la Mars?
Just like in English, the names of planets in French are proper nouns and generally do not take an article like le or la. You simply say sur Mars (on Mars). A notable exception is our own planet: Earth is la Terre, so you would say sur la Terre.
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