Learn French: Ces saucisses viennent de la boucherie. - These sausages come from the butcher's.

Ces saucisses viennent de la boucherie.

These sausages come from the butcher's.

Breakdown of Ces saucisses viennent de la boucherie.

Questions & Answers about Ces saucisses viennent de la boucherie.

"Venir de" often means "to have just" done something. Why does it mean "come from" here?

It depends on what follows the phrase. When venir de is followed by an infinitive verb (like venir de manger), it forms the recent past and means "to have just eaten". But here, it is followed by a noun (la boucherie), so it retains its literal meaning: "to come from".

Why is the plural demonstrative "ces" used, and does it change based on gender?

Ces means "these" or "those". Unlike the singular forms (ce or cet for masculine, cette for feminine), the plural form ces is gender-neutral. Because saucisses (sausages) is plural, you just use ces without worrying about whether the noun is masculine or feminine.

The English translation says "the butcher's". Why does the French use "la boucherie" instead of "chez le boucher"?

In French, you have two common ways to refer to a local shop. You can refer to the physical store itself using the noun ending in -erie, like la boucherie (the butcher shop). Alternatively, you can use chez plus the person's profession, like chez le boucher (at the butcher's). Both are perfectly natural and interchangeable here!