Les poissons qui nagent ici ne veulent pas mordre.

Questions & Answers about Les poissons qui nagent ici ne veulent pas mordre.

How could we rewrite this sentence using the new avoir beau structure?
To express 'The fish may swim here, but they don't want to bite' (or 'The fish swim here in vain...'), you could say: Les poissons ont beau nager ici, ils ne veulent pas mordre. This uses avoir beau followed by the infinitive nager to set up a situation that doesn't lead to the expected result.
Why is it qui and not que before nagent?
Qui is used because the fish are the subject of the verb nagent (they are the ones doing the swimming). You use que when the noun is the direct object of the action, such as in les poissons que je vois (the fish that I see).
Does mordre literally mean 'to bite' like a dog would, or is it a special fishing term?
It literally means 'to bite.' Just like in English, French uses the standard everyday verb for biting (mordre) when talking about fish taking the bait on a hook.
In English, 'fish' can be both singular and plural. How does French handle this?
In French, the noun poisson is completely regular. A single fish is un poisson, and multiple fish are des poissons (or les poissons, as seen here). You must always add the s to make it plural.

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