Question 1

This lesson is about cependant and pourtant. How does quand même fit in?

Accepted Answer

Quand même is another opposition connector that means "anyway" or "all the same." In everyday speech, pairing mais with quand même is a very natural way to express the same kind of contrast that pourtant (yet) or cependant (however) provides.

Question 2

Could I replace mais ... quand même with pourtant here?

Accepted Answer

Absolutely. You could say C'est cher, pourtant je vais l'acheter (It is expensive, yet I am going to buy it). Using mais along with quand même just sounds a bit more conversational and emphasizes your determination to buy it despite the price.

Question 3

Why is the pronoun l' located right before acheter instead of before vais?

Accepted Answer

This sentence uses the near future tense, built with aller plus an infinitive verb. In this structure, object pronouns always go immediately before the infinitive they belong to. Since you are buying "it," l' belongs right in front of acheter.

Question 4

Why use C'est cher rather than Il est cher?

Accepted Answer

When making a general judgment or commenting on an unnamed thing ("it is expensive"), French uses c'est plus the masculine singular adjective. You would only use Il est cher if you had just explicitly named a masculine object in the previous sentence, like le manteau (the coat).

C'est cher, mais je vais quand même l'acheter.

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