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La chèvre mange l'herbe du champ.

La chèvre mange l'herbe du champ.
The goat eats the grass in the field.
From Lesson 260:Animals and the countryside·French

Breakdown of La chèvre mange l'herbe du champ.

manger
to eat
le champ
the field
la chèvre
the goat
l'herbe
the grass (f)

Questions & Answers about La chèvre mange l'herbe du champ.

Why does the sentence use du champ if the English translation says "in the field"?
Literally, du champ means "of the field" (a contraction of de + le). While English prefers to say the grass is in the field, French commonly uses de to link two nouns and show belonging or origin (the field's grass). You could technically say dans le champ, but du champ sounds more natural here.
Why is it l'herbe instead of la herbe?
The word herbe starts with a silent H (known as an h muet). In French, words starting with an h muet act as if they start with a vowel. Therefore, the feminine article la drops its "a" and merges with the noun to avoid two vowel sounds clashing.
Is there a difference between un champ and un pré?
Yes! Un champ is usually a cultivated agricultural field, whereas un pré is a grassy meadow or pasture specifically for grazing animals. A goat might happily eat grass in either, but champ is the more general term for an open field.
Why isn't the "p" in champ pronounced?
The p at the end is completely silent, which is a very common rule for final consonants in French. You just pronounce the nasal vowel sound am, which sounds somewhat similar to the "on" in the English word "song", spoken through your nose.

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