Breakdown of Cette histoire est vraiment fascinante, n'est-ce pas ?
être
to be
ce
this (before a noun)
l'histoire
the story (f)
vraiment
really
n'est-ce pas
isn't it? right?
fascinant
fascinating (mesmerizing)
Questions & Answers about Cette histoire est vraiment fascinante, n'est-ce pas ?
Why does fascinante end in an -e here if present participles usually end in -ant?
Here, fascinante is acting as a verbal adjective describing the feminine noun histoire. When a present participle is used as an adjective, it must agree in gender and number with the noun it describes, so we add an -e. If it were acting as a strict verb, it would never change and would stay as fascinant.
How do I build verbal adjectives like fascinante from other verbs?
You generally take the nous form of the present tense, drop the -ons, and add -ant. For example, fasciner (to fascinate) becomes fascinons, which gives us the base for fascinant (fascinating). Just remember that when used as an adjective, it takes endings to match the noun!
Why is vraiment placed before fascinante?
While most adjectives go after the noun, vraiment is an adverb modifying the adjective fascinante. In French, adverbs that modify adjectives are placed directly in front of the adjective they are intensifying, exactly like in English.
Is n'est-ce pas always the translation for English question tags like "isn't it", "don't they", or "aren't we"?
Yes! English question tags change depending on the subject and the verb, which can be complicated. French makes this very easy: you can just attach n'est-ce pas (literally "is it not") to the end of almost any statement to ask "right?" or to ask for agreement.
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