Breakdown of Si tu te sens épuisé, tu dois me dire pourquoi tu l'es.
être
to be
tu
you (informal singular)
pourquoi
why
devoir
to have to / must
si
if
dire
to say, to tell
me
me, myself (object pronoun)
se sentir
to feel (oneself)
épuisé
exhausted
Questions & Answers about Si tu te sens épuisé, tu dois me dire pourquoi tu l'es.
Why is there an l' in tu l'es when the English translation just says 'why you are'?
In English, we often drop the adjective at the end of a sentence and just say 'why you are.' French doesn't allow you to leave the verb être (to be) hanging like that. You have to use the neuter pronoun le (which contracts to l' before a vowel) to replace the adjective épuisé. It is like saying 'why you are it.'
If a woman is being spoken to, does the neuter pronoun change to match her gender?
Why does the sentence use tu l'es (you are it) instead of repeating the verb se sentir (to feel)?
While the first clause uses te sens (feel), the simplest and most natural way to refer back to a state of being in French is to switch to the verb être (to be) alongside the neuter pronoun le. Trying to reuse se sentir by saying something like pourquoi tu te le sens would sound very awkward to a native speaker.
Why does me go right before dire instead of before the conjugated verb dois?
When a sentence has a conjugated verb followed by an infinitive, like dois dire (must tell), object pronouns almost always go directly in front of the infinitive they belong to. You are telling 'to me', so me is attached directly to dire.
Learn Si tu te sens épuisé, tu dois me dire pourquoi tu l'es and more in French
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free