Breakdown of Il est minimaliste, il ne possède que des choses utiles.
être
to be
il
he
des
some (plural indefinite)
la chose
the thing
ne
not (used before the verb)
utile
useful
minimaliste
minimalist
ne... que
only (with ne)
posséder
to own
Questions & Answers about Il est minimaliste, il ne possède que des choses utiles.
How does ne... que translate to "only" in this sentence?
Wait, why is it des choses? Don't we change des to de after a negative?
Great catch! Normally, after a true negative like ne... pas, indefinite articles like des change to de. However, ne... que isn't a true negative, it's a restriction. Because he does own the things, the article doesn't change to de. We keep des choses.
Why does the accent change in possède compared to the infinitive posséder?
Posséder is a stem-changing verb. In the present tense, for all forms where the ending is silent (like the il/elle form), the acute accent (é) in the stem changes to a grave accent (è). This changes the pronunciation to an open "eh" sound.
Does minimaliste need an extra e if we are talking about a woman?
No, minimaliste already ends in an e in its base masculine form. Adjectives that naturally end in an unaccented e look exactly the same in both the masculine and feminine forms.
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