Breakdown of Il chuchote, sinon il est exclu par le bibliothécaire.
être
to be
il
he
par
by, through / out of (motive)
le bibliothécaire
the librarian (m)
sinon
otherwise
chuchoter
to whisper
exclure
to expel
Questions & Answers about Il chuchote, sinon il est exclu par le bibliothécaire.
How does sinon work in this sentence?
Sinon means "otherwise" or "if not". It introduces the consequence of not doing the first action (whispering). In French, just like in English, it bridges two independent clauses here to show an alternative: "He whispers, otherwise he gets expelled."
Why use est exclu instead of an active verb here?
This is the passive voice in the present tense. Est exclu translates to "is expelled". The action is happening to him, rather than him doing the action. The person doing the expelling is introduced by the preposition par (by).
Why is exclu spelled without a t at the end if the subject is il?
Here, exclu is the past participle of the verb exclure (to exclude or expel), used to form the passive voice. The past participle of exclure is just exclu. If it were an active present tense verb like "he excludes", it would be spelled with a t: il exclut.
Is bibliothécaire always masculine because of the le?
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