Word
Chacun cherche le bien pour soi, mais la morale exige plus.
Meaning
Everyone seeks the good for oneself, but morality demands more.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Chacun cherche le bien pour soi, mais la morale exige plus.
mais
but
pour
for
chercher
to look for
le
him, it (masculine direct object pronoun)
Questions & Answers about Chacun cherche le bien pour soi, mais la morale exige plus.
Why do we use soi here instead of a regular stressed pronoun like lui or elle?
We use soi (oneself) because the subject of the sentence is chacun (everyone). When the subject is an indefinite pronoun like chacun, on, or tout le monde, or when a statement is about people in general, French uses the indefinite stressed pronoun soi instead of lui or elle.
Do I pronounce the 's' at the end of plus in this sentence?
Yes, you pronounce the 's' here. When plus means a positive 'more' and sits at the very end of a clause or sentence, the 's' is sounded. If it meant 'anymore' in a negative sentence, the 's' would be silent.
Why is there a 'la' in front of morale when the English translation is just 'morality'?
In French, abstract nouns representing general concepts like morality, love, or justice almost always require a definite article (le, la, or les). So 'morality' becomes la morale, just like 'life' becomes la vie.