Breakdown of Tu éteins le moteur au lieu de polluer.
tu
you (informal singular)
polluer
to pollute
au lieu de
instead of
éteindre
to turn off
le moteur
the engine
Questions & Answers about Tu éteins le moteur au lieu de polluer.
Why do we use the infinitive polluer here when the English translation says 'polluting'?
In French, when a verb directly follows a preposition like de (which is part of au lieu de), it must be in the infinitive form. While English uses the '-ing' form after prepositions ('instead of polluting'), French always uses the basic, unconjugated infinitive.
What verb is éteins from, and is it a regular verb?
It comes from éteindre (to turn off, to extinguish). It is an irregular verb. To form the tu present tense, you drop the -dre and add -s, giving you tu éteins.
Can éteindre be used for turning off things other than engines?
Could I use au lieu de if a different person were doing the polluting?
No. You use au lieu de plus the infinitive when the same subject (tu in this case) is involved in both actions. If the subjects were different (for example, 'You turn off the engine instead of him polluting'), you would have to use au lieu que followed by a conjugated verb.
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