Ces objets en bois se conservent au musée.

Questions & Answers about Ces objets en bois se conservent au musée.

Why does the sentence use se conservent instead of sont conservés?
This is the pronominal passive. In French, when an inanimate thing (like ces objets) receives an action, it is very common to use a reflexive verb (se + verb) rather than the standard passive voice (sont conservés). It translates to English as the passive phrase "are kept."
Could I say On conserve ces objets au musée instead?
Yes! Using the pronoun on with the active voice is another very common way to avoid the standard passive voice. On conserve ces objets means "People keep these objects" and is just as natural as the pronominal passive used here.
Why is it en bois and not an adjective like in English?
French rarely uses adjectives for materials. Instead, you use the preposition en followed by the noun for the material. So "wooden objects" literally translates to "objects in wood" (objets en bois).
Why does the sentence use au musée instead of dans le musée?
Au is a contraction of à and le. When talking about public institutions like museums, hospitals, or schools, French typically uses à to mean "at the" or "in the" in a general sense. Dans le musée would put a strong, specific emphasis on being physically inside the building.

Learn Ces objets en bois se conservent au musée 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