Word
Si vous n'avez pas le tampon, le douanier ne vous laisse pas passer.
Meaning
If you don't have the stamp, the customs officer doesn't let you pass.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Si vous n'avez pas le tampon, le douanier ne vous laisse pas passer.
vous
you (plural/formal)
avoir
to have
ne
not (used before the verb)
pas
not (used after the verb)
Questions & Answers about Si vous n'avez pas le tampon, le douanier ne vous laisse pas passer.
Why does vous go before laisse instead of before passer?
When using laisser + infinitive (to let someone do something), the object pronoun goes right before laisser, not before the infinitive. Because the customs officer isn't letting you, the pronoun vous attaches directly to the verb doing the letting.
Why is vous inside the ne ... pas sandwich?
Object pronouns like vous are strictly glued to the front of the verb they belong to. When you make the sentence negative, the ne and pas have to go around that entire pronoun-verb block. So it becomes ne + vous laisse + pas.
I thought "stamp" was timbre. Why is it tampon here?
A timbre is specifically a postage stamp for mailing a letter. A tampon refers to a rubber ink stamp, like the one a customs officer (le douanier) uses to stamp your passport.
Why are both halves of the sentence in the present tense? Wouldn't the second half be in the future?