Question 1

Why is the answer Si instead of Oui?

Accepted Answer

In French, when you want to answer 'yes' to a negative question (or contradict a negative statement), you must use si instead of oui. Since the question asks 'isn't he ratifying...?' (ne ratifie pas... ?), answering si means 'Yes, on the contrary, he is ratifying it.'

Question 2

I thought nouns ending in '-té' were usually feminine. Why is it le traité?

Accepted Answer

Most nouns ending in -té or -tié are indeed feminine (like la beauté or la société). However, le traité (the treaty) is an exception. A few other common masculine exceptions you might know are le côté (the side) and le comité (the committee).

Question 3

Why do we use en for 'in Spain' instead of à or au?

Accepted Answer

You use en for 'in' or 'to' with feminine countries, which are almost always the ones ending in the letter -e (like Espagne, France, or Italie). For masculine countries starting with a consonant, you use au (like au Portugal), and for plural countries, aux (like aux États-Unis).

Question 4

There is no est-ce que or subject inversion here. Is it normal to ask a negative question this way?

Accepted Answer

Yes! In everyday spoken French, it is very common to ask a question simply by keeping the normal statement word order (L'ambassadeur ne ratifie pas...) and raising your pitch at the end of the sentence. You could also say Est-ce que l'ambassadeur ne ratifie pas... ?, but using inversion here would sound quite formal.

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