Word
Mes deux amis s'aident l'un l'autre pour lire la partition.
Meaning
My two friends help each other to read the sheet music.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Mes deux amis s'aident l'un l'autre pour lire la partition.
l'ami
the friend (m)
pour
for
mon
my (mon, ma, mes)
deux
two
Questions & Answers about Mes deux amis s'aident l'un l'autre pour lire la partition.
Why add l'un l'autre if s'aident already means "help each other"?
The verb s'aident can mean either "help themselves" or "help each other." Adding l'un l'autre makes it explicitly clear that the action is reciprocal (they are helping each other) rather than reflexive.
Why use the singular l'un l'autre when "mes deux amis" is plural?
Why isn't there a preposition like à in the middle of l'un l'autre?
The reciprocal phrase relies on the verb's normal grammar. Because the verb aider takes a direct object (aider quelqu'un), no preposition is needed here. If it were a verb that requires à, like parler (parler à quelqu'un), it would be l'un à l'autre.
Why do we say pour lire instead of just à lire or lire?
In French, you use pour followed by an infinitive verb to express purpose or intention. Here, pour lire literally translates to "in order to read."
What does partition mean in this context?