Question 1

Why does it say la tente du garçon instead of using an apostrophe 's' like in English?

Accepted Answer

French doesn't have an equivalent to the English apostrophe 's' for possession. Instead of saying "the boy's tent", you always have to flip the structure to say "the tent of the boy".

Question 2

Where does the word du come from here?

Accepted Answer

Du is a mandatory contraction. When phrasing "the tent of the boy", you need de (of) and le (the, since garçon is masculine). In French, de + le always combine to form du.

Question 3

Why isn't dormir conjugated here?

Accepted Answer

This sentence uses the futur proche (near future) to express what we "are going to" do. You form this by conjugating the verb aller (nous allons) and following it directly with the infinitive, or dictionary form, of the action verb (dormir).

Question 4

How would I apply this lesson's grammar to say "We are going to sleep in not a single tent"?

Accepted Answer

You would use the negative adjective aucune, since tente is feminine. The ne goes before the conjugated verb (allons), and aucune directly replaces the article before the noun: Nous n'allons dormir dans aucune tente.

Nous allons dormir dans la tente du garçon.

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