Breakdown of Je cherche un appartement dont l'emplacement soit paisible.
je
I
être
to be
un
a / an (masculine)
l'appartement
the apartment (m)
chercher
to look for
dont
whose / about which / of which
paisible
peaceful (calm, quiet)
l'emplacement
the location (m)
Questions & Answers about Je cherche un appartement dont l'emplacement soit paisible.
Why is soit in the subjunctive here instead of the indicative est?
We use the subjunctive soit because the apartment we are looking for is hypothetical. Since you are saying Je cherche un appartement, you do not know yet if this peaceful apartment actually exists. The relative clause describes a requirement for something you are seeking, not a known statement of fact.
Would the sentence still make sense if I used the indicative est instead of soit?
Why is dont used to translate the word whose in this sentence?
The relative pronoun dont replaces expressions introduced by de. In French, you would say l'emplacement de l'appartement (the location of the apartment). When you link these two ideas, de l'appartement turns into dont, which acts just like the English word whose.
Why does l'emplacement have the article l' after dont?
Unlike the English word whose, dont does not act as a possessive adjective, so it cannot be attached directly to a noun without an article. You must always keep the definite article (le, la, les, or l') before the noun that belongs to it. Therefore, the phrase whose location translates to dont l'emplacement.
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