Breakdown of Le douanier vérifie les valises et les laisse passer.
et
and
la valise
the suitcase
les
them (direct object pronoun)
vérifier
to check
passer
to pass by / go past
laisser
to leave (something or someone)
le douanier
the customs officer
Questions & Answers about Le douanier vérifie les valises et les laisse passer.
Why does the pronoun les go before laisse instead of the infinitive passer?
Normally, when you have a conjugated verb and an infinitive, the object pronoun goes right before the infinitive (like in je veux les voir). However, laisser is a special case when used with an infinitive. Just like with the causative verb faire, the object pronoun must go before the conjugated verb laisser, not the infinitive. That is why we say les laisse passer instead of laisse les passer.
How can I tell if laisse means to leave or to let in this sentence?
Does les in les laisse passer refer to the customs officers or the suitcases?
It refers to the suitcases (les valises). In the first half of the sentence, les valises is the direct object. In the second half, the plural pronoun les replaces it so we do not have to repeat the noun. The customs officer is the subject doing the action, and the suitcases are the objects being allowed to pass.
Could we use the verb permettre (to allow) instead of laisser here?
You could, but the grammar would change. You would have to say leur permet de passer. The verb laisser is much more common for expressing the idea of letting something happen naturally without intervening. Also, notice that permettre requires the preposition de before the next verb, whereas laisser connects directly to the infinitive passer without any extra words.
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