Breakdown of Ils creuseront pour extraire des tonnes de fer.
des
some (plural indefinite)
ils
they (masculine/mixed)
pour
for
de
of / from / any (in negative sentences) / about (concerning)
creuser
to dig
le fer
the iron
extraire
to extract
la tonne
the ton
Questions & Answers about Ils creuseront pour extraire des tonnes de fer.
Since this lesson is about the Futur Antérieur (Future Perfect), why does this sentence use creuseront instead?
Creuseront is the Future Simple, meaning "They will dig". The Futur Antérieur is used for actions completed before another future action. If this were the Future Perfect, it would be ils auront creusé ("They will have dug"). This sentence serves as a great reminder of the base future tense that the Futur Antérieur builds upon!
Why is pour necessary before extraire?
When you want to say "in order to" do something in French, you use pour followed by an infinitive. Even though English simply says "to extract," French requires pour extraire to show the specific purpose or goal of the digging.
Since iron is an uncountable material, shouldn't it be du fer?
How do we form the future tense for a regular verb like creuser?
For regular -er verbs, you form the future tense by taking the full infinitive (creuser) and adding the future endings. Since the subject is ils (they), the correct ending is -ont, resulting in creuseront.
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