Learn French: Il porte un short pour courir.

Il porte un short pour courir.

He wears shorts to run.

Breakdown of Il porte un short pour courir.

Questions & Answers about Il porte un short pour courir.

Why is it un short (singular) when we say "shorts" (plural) in English?

In English, clothes with two legs (shorts, pants, trousers) are grammatically plural. French treats the single piece of clothing as singular. So "shorts" or "a pair of shorts" translates simply to un short. You will see the exact same thing with un pantalon (pants).

Why do we need pour before courir? Doesn't the infinitive already mean "to run"?

Yes, courir means "to run", but when "to" means "in order to" to express a goal or purpose, French requires pour followed by the infinitive. Saying Il porte un short courir would sound grammatically incomplete, like saying "He wears shorts run."

I learned that porter means "to carry". How do I know when it means "to wear"?

The verb porter is used for both "to carry" and "to wear" (as in bearing clothes on your body). You just have to rely on context! Here, it makes much more sense that he is wearing shorts to run rather than carrying them around.

Since short is borrowed from English, do we pronounce the final "t"?

Yes! While final consonants are usually silent in French, many English loanwords keep their final sounds. You pronounce the "t" at the end of short, but make sure to give it a guttural French "r" sound in the middle rather than an English "r".