Tout le monde sait que c'est un scandale.

Questions & Answers about Tout le monde sait que c'est un scandale.

In English, I could just say "Everyone knows it's a scandal." Can I drop que in French?
No, you can never drop que in French! While English often leaves out the word "that" to connect two parts of a sentence, French requires que to link the main clause (Tout le monde sait) with the second part (c'est un scandale).
Tout le monde means "everyone" (multiple people), so why is the verb sait in the singular form?
Even though tout le monde refers to a group of people, grammatically it acts as a single unit. It literally translates to "all the world." Just like the word "everyone" in English, it always takes the third-person singular form of the verb.
Why do we use sait (from savoir) here instead of connaît (from connaître)?
You use savoir when you know a fact, how to do something, or when a sentence continues with a word like que (that), qui (who), or où (where). You use connaître when you are familiar with a person, place, or thing. Since we are stating a fact here, sait is the correct choice.
Why does the sentence use c'est for "it is" instead of il est?
In French, you must use c'est when it is followed by a noun that has an article like un, une, le, or la in front of it. Because scandale is a noun preceded by the article un, we use c'est un scandale.

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