Breakdown of Les cerises sont rouges et petites.
être
to be
petit
small / short
rouge
red
la cerise
the cherry
Questions & Answers about Les cerises sont rouges et petites.
Why do we use les before cerises if the English translation is just 'cherries'?
In French, when you make a general statement about a whole category of things—like cherries in general—you must use the definite article (le, la, or les). English leaves the article out for plural generalities, but French requires it: Les cerises sont rouges.
Both adjectives describe the cherries, so why does petites add an '-es' while rouges only adds an '-s'?
Adjectives must match the noun they describe in gender and number. Cerise is feminine, so we need the feminine plural forms. The base masculine form of 'small' is petit, so we add an -e for feminine and an -s for plural, making petites. The base form of 'red' (rouge) already ends in an -e, so it stays the same for feminine, and we only need to add the plural -s to get rouges.
Do you pronounce the '-s' at the end of rouges and petites?
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