Breakdown of Le poisson est encore vivant.
être
to be
le poisson
the fish
encore
still, again
vivant
alive, living
Questions & Answers about Le poisson est encore vivant.
How is vivant functioning in this sentence?
Vivant is the present participle of the verb vivre (to live). In this sentence, it is being used as a verbal adjective to mean "alive" or "living". Just like a regular adjective, it simply describes the state of the noun (le poisson).
Would vivant change if the subject were feminine or plural?
Yes! When a present participle is used as an adjective, it must agree in gender and number with the noun it describes. Because poisson is masculine singular, vivant doesn't get any extra letters here. But if we were talking about a frog (la grenouille), it would be La grenouille est encore vivante. For multiple fish, it would be Les poissons sont encore vivants.
How can I tell that vivant is acting as an adjective and not a verb here?
You can tell by its position and role. Here, it directly follows the verb est (is) to describe a characteristic of the fish, which is exactly how adjectives work. If a present participle is acting purely as a verb (expressing an action), it is invariable (it never takes an extra "e" or "s" for agreement) and is often preceded by en to mean "while" or "by" doing something.
Since encore can mean "again," could this sentence translate to "The fish is alive again"?
Context usually rules this out. While encore translates to "again," "still," or "yet," it almost always means "still" when describing an ongoing continuous state like being alive. If you specifically needed to say a fish was "alive again," you would typically use a phrase like vivant à nouveau (alive anew) to avoid confusion.
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