Breakdown of Il ouvre le coffre-fort sans que le gardien l'entende.
il
he
entendre
to hear
ouvrir
to open
le
him, it (masculine direct object pronoun)
sans que
without (conjunction)
le gardien
the guard
le coffre-fort
the safe (strongbox)
Questions & Answers about Il ouvre le coffre-fort sans que le gardien l'entende.
Why do we use sans que instead of just sans here?
Because there are two different subjects! "He" (il) is opening the safe, but "the guard" (le gardien) is the one who isn't hearing it. When the subject changes, you must use sans que followed by a conjugated verb. If the same person were doing both actions, you would just use sans followed by the infinitive (for example, sans entendre).
Why is the verb entende in the subjunctive mood?
The conjunction sans que (without) always triggers the subjunctive in French. It introduces a condition or outcome that doesn't actually happen, which requires the subjunctive mood rather than the regular indicative tense.
Wait, entende looks exactly like the normal present tense for entendre. Is it really subjunctive?
Yes, it is! For regular -re verbs like entendre, the present subjunctive forms for je, tu, il/elle, and ils/elles are actually identical to their regular present tense forms. We only know it is subjunctive here because the grammar rules for sans que demand it.
What does the l' in l'entende stand for, and why is it placed there?
Why is the word for safe coffre-fort?
It is a compound noun that literally translates to "strong trunk" or "strong chest" (coffre means chest or trunk, and fort means strong). Joined together with a hyphen, they form the standard French word for a safe or strongbox.
Learn Il ouvre le coffre-fort sans que le gardien l'entende and more in French
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free