Learn French: Le singe joue avec les enfants. - The monkey plays with the children.

Le singe joue avec les enfants.

The monkey plays with the children.

Breakdown of Le singe joue avec les enfants.

Questions & Answers about Le singe joue avec les enfants.

I have learned to use jouer à or jouer de. Why do we use avec here?

You use jouer à for games and sports (like jouer au tennis) and jouer de for musical instruments (like jouer du piano). But when you are simply playing together with someone, an animal, or a physical toy, you use avec, just like in English.

Does joue translate to "plays" or "is playing"?

It can be both! French does not have a separate present continuous tense. Depending on the context, Le singe joue can mean "The monkey plays" as a general habit, or "The monkey is playing" right now.

Is there a liaison when pronouncing les enfants?

Yes, this is a mandatory liaison. Because les is a plural article ending in an 's' and enfants starts with a vowel, you must pronounce the 's' as a 'z' sound connecting the two words.

Singe ends in an -e. Is there a feminine form if the monkey is female?

No, le singe is a masculine noun regardless of the animal's actual sex. If you specifically needed to point out that a monkey was female, you would say la femelle du singe.