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Voyez-vous le client dont l'épouse est très sociable ?

Voyez-vous le client dont l'épouse est très sociable ?
Do you see the client whose wife is very sociable?
From Lesson 164:Possessive relative pronouns (dont)·French

Questions & Answers about Voyez-vous le client dont l'épouse est très sociable ?

Why is there an l' before épouse? Doesn't dont mean whose?
Yes, dont translates to 'whose' here. However, in French, you must still use a definite article (le, la, l', or les) before the noun that belongs to the person. You literally say 'the client of whom the wife...', which gives us le client dont l'épouse.
Could I use la femme instead of l'épouse?
Absolutely. La femme is the most common way to say 'wife' in French. L'épouse is a slightly more formal or specific term for 'spouse' (specifically a female spouse, while a husband is l'époux).
Is Voyez-vous formal, or can I use 'Est-ce que...' here?
Using inversion like Voyez-vous is a bit more formal and is very common in written French. In everyday spoken French, you will more often hear Est-ce que vous voyez le client... or simply Vous voyez le client... ? with a rising tone of voice.
If we were talking about a husband (un mari) instead of a wife, would the adjective 'sociable' lose its 'e'?
No, sociable is one of those adjectives that naturally ends in an -e in its masculine dictionary form. Because of this, its spelling stays exactly the same for both masculine and feminine nouns.

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