Breakdown of Une mission humaine ira sur Mars l'année prochaine.
une
a / an (feminine)
sur
on
aller
to go
prochain
next
l'année
the year (f)
Mars
Mars
la mission
the mission
humain
human
Questions & Answers about Une mission humaine ira sur Mars l'année prochaine.
What verb is ira and how is it formed?
ira is the future tense of the verb aller (to go). Aller is highly irregular, so it doesn't use its full infinitive as the future stem. Instead, it uses the special stem ir-. Because the subject Une mission acts as an elle (she/it), we add the standard future ending -a to get ira (will go).
Why do we use sur (on) for Mars instead of à (to)?
While we say going "to" a planet in English, in French you use the preposition sur (on) for planets: sur Mars, sur la Terre, sur Vénus. You can imagine it as traveling to land on the surface of the planet.
Why do the adjectives humaine and prochaine come after their nouns?
In French, most adjectives are placed right after the noun they describe, just like mission humaine and année prochaine. Only a specific group of very common, short adjectives (describing Beauty, Age, Goodness, or Size) are placed before the noun.
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