Learn French: L'ambassadeur ne signe pas le traité ? Si, il le signe. - The ambassador isn't signing the treaty? Yes, he is signing it.

L'ambassadeur ne signe pas le traité ? Si, il le signe.

The ambassador isn't signing the treaty? Yes, he is signing it.

Breakdown of L'ambassadeur ne signe pas le traité ? Si, il le signe.

not (used before the verb)

pas

not (used after the verb)

signer

to sign

Questions & Answers about L'ambassadeur ne signe pas le traité ? Si, il le signe.

Why do we say Si here instead of Oui?

Because the first person is asking a negative question (ne signe pas). In French, when you want to answer "yes" to contradict a negative statement or question, you must use si instead of oui.

What is the le doing in il le signe?

Here, le is a direct object pronoun that replaces le traité (the treaty) so you don't have to repeat the noun. In French, object pronouns must go directly before the verb they belong to, which is why it is il le signe (literally, "he it signs").

The English translation says "he is signing", but the French just uses the normal present tense signe. Why?

French doesn't have a direct equivalent to the English "is doing" (the present continuous tense). The standard present tense il le signe translates to both "he signs it" and "he is signing it" depending on the context.

The first sentence is a question, but it's structured exactly like a normal statement. Is that correct?

Yes! In spoken, everyday French, it is very common to ask a question simply by raising your intonation at the end of a normal statement. You could also use est-ce que here, but the statement format shown in the sentence is perfectly natural for a conversation.