Breakdown of Il faut ajuster la largeur sans couper ce tissu.
sans
without
ce
this (before a noun)
il
it (impersonal subject)
falloir
to be necessary / must (impersonal)
couper
to cut
le tissu
the fabric / the cloth
ajuster
to adjust
la largeur
the width
Questions & Answers about Il faut ajuster la largeur sans couper ce tissu.
Why is Il faut translated as "You have to" here instead of "Tu dois"?
Il faut is an impersonal expression that literally means "it is necessary to". While you could use tu dois or vous devez, il faut is a very common and natural way in French to give a general instruction or state an obligation without pointing at a specific person.
Is the word largeur related to the English word "large"?
The English translation says "without cutting", but the French uses the infinitive couper. Why isn't it an "-ing" form?
In French, whenever a verb directly follows a preposition like sans (without), pour (for), or de (of/to), it must be in the infinitive (the unconjugated dictionary form). While English uses the gerund ("cutting"), French strictly uses the infinitive: sans couper.
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