Questions & Answers about Nous possédons trop de choses, ça encombre la maison.
How would I use the restrictive negation ne... que from this lesson to say "We only own three things"?
You would wrap ne and que around the conjugated verb possédons. It becomes: Nous ne possédons que trois choses. Remember that que always goes right before the specific thing you are restricting. Why is it trop de choses and not trop des choses?
After expressions of quantity like trop (too much/many), beaucoup (a lot), or un peu (a little), you always use a simple de (or d'), without the plural article les. Even though choses is plural, the quantity rule overrides the plural article. Why does possédons have an acute accent (é) when the "I" form is je possède with a grave accent (è)?
Posséder is a stem-changing verb. When the syllable after the accent is silent (like the -e in je possède), the accent changes to è so the vowel sounds more open. When the next syllable is pronounced (like the -dons in nous possédons), it keeps the é from the infinitive. What exactly does ça refer to in the second half of the sentence?
Ça is a neutral, everyday pronoun pointing back to the entire idea of the first clause: the fact that "we own too many things". In more formal writing, you might see cela instead, but in everyday French, ça is the standard way to refer back to a whole situation or concept. Is encombre related to the English word "encumber"?
Yes! While "encumbered" in English usually means being weighed down by an abstract burden or debt, in everyday French, encombrer physically means to "clutter," "block," or "take up too much space." Learn Nous possédons trop de choses, ça encombre la maison and more in French
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