Breakdown of Je vais lire un livre fascinant.
je
I
un
a / an (masculine)
le livre
the book
aller
to go
lire
to read
fascinant
fascinating (mesmerizing)
Questions & Answers about Je vais lire un livre fascinant.
Why does fascinant end in -ant here?
In French, you can often turn a verb into an adjective by taking its present participle (the -ant form, equivalent to the English -ing). Here, the verb fasciner (to fascinate) becomes the adjective fascinant (fascinating) to describe the book.
Since fascinant comes from a verb, does it change its ending to match the noun it describes?
Yes! When a present participle is used as an adjective, it behaves like a normal adjective and must agree in gender and number with the noun. Because un livre is masculine and singular, fascinant stays in its basic form. If you were reading a fascinating story (une histoire), it would become fascinante.
Why is fascinant placed after livre?
Most French adjectives go after the noun. While you might remember that certain common, short adjectives go before the noun, verbal adjectives ending in -ant are descriptive and almost always follow the noun they describe.
Why use vais lire instead of the simple future tense of lire?
Je vais lire is the near future tense, formed with the present tense of aller (to go) plus the infinitive of the action verb. It translates perfectly to the English phrase I am going to read and is heavily used in everyday French for intended or upcoming actions.
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