Question 1

Why do we use comme here instead of parce que?

Accepted Answer

In French, when you want to express "since" or "as" to state a cause at the very beginning of a sentence, you use comme. If you wanted to use parce que (because), you would typically put it in the middle of the sentence instead: La manche est finie parce que personne ne parie.

Question 2

Where is the pas in the first half of the sentence?

Accepted Answer

The phrase personne ne means "nobody". In French, negative words like personne, rien, or jamais replace pas. Adding pas here (personne ne parie pas) would be a double negative, like saying "nobody isn't betting" in English.

Question 3

I learned that une manche means a "sleeve". Why is it translated as "round"?

Accepted Answer

Une manche does mean a sleeve on a piece of clothing! However, in the context of games, sports, or betting, it translates to a "round", "inning", or "heat". (Be careful not to confuse it with the masculine le manche, which means a "handle").

Question 4

Why is there an extra -e on the word finie?

Accepted Answer

Here, the past participle fini is acting as an adjective used with the verb être (is) to describe the state of the round. Since la manche is a feminine noun, finie takes an extra -e at the end to match it.

Comme personne ne parie, la manche est finie.

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