Breakdown of Ils iront voir la comédie dont tu parles.
tu
you (informal singular)
ils
they (masculine/mixed)
parler
to speak
voir
to see
aller
to go
dont
whose / about which / of which
la comédie
the comedy
Questions & Answers about Ils iront voir la comédie dont tu parles.
Why do we use dont here instead of que?
We use dont because the verb in this relative clause is parler de (to talk about). In French, the relative pronoun dont replaces the preposition de plus its object. Since you are talking about the comedy (tu parles de la comédie), the de is absorbed directly into dont. You would only use que for a direct object that lacks a preposition.
In the English translation, the word 'about' is at the very end. Why is dont in the middle of the French sentence?
English often leaves prepositions hanging at the end of a sentence, like 'about' in this example. French grammar never allows a sentence or clause to end with a preposition. The word dont essentially means 'about which', and it must be placed directly after the noun it refers to (la comédie), pulling the preposition into the middle of the sentence.
What tense is iront and what is its infinitive?
The word iront is the simple future tense of the irregular verb aller (to go), conjugated for ils (they). It means 'they will go'.
Why is there no preposition between iront and voir?
In French, when you use a conjugated verb of motion like aller followed by another action, you simply attach the infinitive of the second verb (voir). You do not need a preposition like à or de between them to mean 'to see'. It translates perfectly to the casual English phrase 'go see'.
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