Breakdown of Où est-ce que nous retrouvons le professeur ?
le professeur
the teacher
est-ce que
is it that / do / does (question marker)
où
where
retrouver
to find again, to meet up with
Questions & Answers about Où est-ce que nous retrouvons le professeur ?
How does the "Où est-ce que" structure work here?
In this lesson's pattern, you put a question word like où (where) right before est-ce que. The beauty of est-ce que is that the rest of the sentence stays in its normal order: subject (nous) then verb (retrouvons). It literally translates to "Where is it that we meet...".
Why does où have an accent mark over the 'u'?
The grave accent on où (where) does not change how the word is pronounced. It is only there in writing so you can tell it apart from ou (or). They both sound exactly the same!
Why do we use retrouvons instead of a word like rencontrons for "meeting"?
The English translation says "are we meeting", but isn't retrouvons in the normal present tense?
Yes, it is! French doesn't have a separate "are meeting" (present continuous) tense. Also, just like in English, French speakers frequently use the standard present tense to talk about things happening in the near future, as long as it is a planned event.