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Questions & Answers about Il est tombé sur le coude.
Why does the French sentence use le coude (the elbow) instead of son coude (his elbow)?
In French, when talking about body parts, you generally use the definite article (le, la, les) instead of a possessive word (mon, ton, son) if it is obvious whose body part it is. Because the subject is Il, it is already clear that he fell on his own elbow.
Why do we use est instead of a for the past tense here?
The verb tomber (to fall) uses être rather than avoir as its auxiliary (helping) verb in the past tense. It belongs to the specific group of verbs showing motion or a change of state that always pair with être, often taught to English speakers as the Dr & Mrs Vandertramp verbs.
Would the word tombé change if the subject was female?
Could tomber sur have another meaning in a different context?