Log inSign up

Prends la lettre : ton nom est écrit dessus.

Prends la lettre : ton nom est écrit dessus.
Take the letter : your name is written on it.
From Lesson 92:Complex prepositions of location (près de, à côté de)·French

Questions & Answers about Prends la lettre : ton nom est écrit dessus.

Why do we use dessus here instead of sur or sur elle to say "on it"?
Sur (on) is a preposition, which means it must be followed by a noun, like sur la lettre (on the letter). When you want to replace that noun and just say "on it", you use the location word dessus. In French, you generally cannot say sur elle for objects, only for people.
Why does Prends end in an 's' here? Doesn't the tu command form drop the 's'?
You only drop the final 's' in the tu command form for verbs that end in -er (like Parle ! or Regarde !). Since prendre (to take) is an -re verb, it keeps its 's' in the command form: Prends !
Does ton nom use the masculine ton because the person being spoken to is male?
No, possessive words in French always match the gender of the thing being owned, not the owner. Nom (name) is a masculine word, so it must be ton nom (your name), regardless of the gender of the person you are talking to.
I thought écrire used avoir in the past tense (j'ai écrit). Why is it est écrit here?
You are right that the past tense (passé composé) of écrire uses avoir (like tu as écrit for "you wrote"). However, in this sentence, est écrit is not the past tense. It describes the current state of the letter: the name is written on it right now. Here, écrit acts like an adjective describing ton nom.

Learn Prends la lettre : ton nom est écrit dessus and more in French

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning French →