Learn French: Chacun pense qu'il conduit le plus vite. - Each one thinks he drives the fastest.

Chacun pense qu'il conduit le plus vite.

Each one thinks he drives the fastest.

Breakdown of Chacun pense qu'il conduit le plus vite.

Questions & Answers about Chacun pense qu'il conduit le plus vite.

Why do we use le plus vite? Does the le ever change to la or les if a woman or a group is driving?

No, the le stays exactly as it is! In French, vite is an adverb here because it describes how someone drives. When you form the superlative of an adverb, the article is always the invariable le. Even if a group of women were driving, they would still drive le plus vite.

Since chacun refers to everyone in a group, why are we using the singular il and pense?

Chacun translates to "each one" or "everyone." Just like in English, it always acts grammatically as a singular pronoun. Therefore, it takes the third-person singular verb (pense) and is referred back to with the singular pronoun il.

Why is conduit in the indicative? Doesn't penser que trigger the subjunctive?

Verbs of thinking and believing, like penser que and croire que, only trigger the subjunctive when they are negative (like Je ne pense pas qu'il conduise) or asked as a question. Because this is a positive, affirmative statement, it expresses a certainty in the subject's mind, so we use the normal indicative mood (conduit).

Could I use rapidement instead of vite in this sentence?