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Le tatoueur a préparé l'encre et l'aiguille.

Le tatoueur a préparé l'encre et l'aiguille.
The tattoo artist has prepared the ink and the needle.
From Lesson 218:It is better to (il vaut mieux)·French

Questions & Answers about Le tatoueur a préparé l'encre et l'aiguille.

How would I apply this lesson's phrase, 'il vaut mieux', to say 'It is better to prepare the ink and the needle'?
You would say Il vaut mieux préparer l'encre et l'aiguille. Remember that il vaut mieux (it is better to) is followed directly by an infinitive verb. So, you drop the helping verb a and change the past participle préparé back to the infinitive préparer.
Both encre and aiguille use l' in this sentence. Are they masculine or feminine?
They are both feminine: une encre and une aiguille. When a noun starts with a vowel, the definite article shrinks to l', hiding its gender. However, a helpful trick is that words ending in a double consonant followed by -e (like the -lle in aiguille) are almost always feminine.
Does the -gui- in aiguille sound like the English word 'guitar'?
No, the u is actually pronounced here! While a u after a g is usually silent in French (like in un guide), in aiguille it makes a 'wee' sound. Combined with the -ille ending, the whole word sounds roughly like 'ay-gwee-y'.
If the tattoo artist were a woman, how would the word tatoueur change?
It would become la tatoueuse. Professions ending in -eur that are built directly from a verb (in this case, tatouer, meaning 'to tattoo') usually change to -euse for the feminine form.

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