Breakdown of Le procureur contredit le témoignage dont vous parlez.
vous
you (plural/formal)
parler
to speak
dont
whose / about which / of which
le témoignage
the testimony
le procureur
the prosecutor
contredire
to contradict
Questions & Answers about Le procureur contredit le témoignage dont vous parlez.
Why do we use dont here instead of que?
The verb parler takes the preposition de when you talk about something (parler de quelque chose). The relative pronoun dont replaces phrases that begin with de, so it effectively provides the meaning of 'that you are talking about' in this sentence.
Is contredit in the present tense?
Yes, it is the third-person singular present tense of contredire. While this specific form looks normal, watch out for the vous form! Unlike the base verb dire (vous dites), contredire does not end in '-tes' and instead becomes vous contredisez.
Is procureur a false friend?
How would we change this sentence to start with the conditional phrase à supposer que?
You would need to trigger the subjunctive! It would become À supposer que le procureur contredise le témoignage dont vous parlez... (Supposing that the prosecutor contradicts the testimony...). The present indicative contredit changes to the subjunctive contredise.
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