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Je regarde le meuble dont le vernis est sec.

Je regarde le meuble dont le vernis est sec.
I am looking at the piece of furniture whose varnish is dry.
From Lesson 333:Structured concession (certes... mais)·French

Questions & Answers about Je regarde le meuble dont le vernis est sec.

Why is there a le after dont? Shouldn't dont already mean "whose"?
While dont translates to "whose" here, French grammar requires the noun being possessed to keep its definite article. You can think of dont le vernis as literally meaning "of which the varnish".
Why use dont instead of que in this sentence?
The relative pronoun dont replaces the preposition de plus a noun. Because the varnish belongs to the furniture (le vernis du meuble, which comes from de le meuble), we must use dont to connect them.
The English translation says "piece of furniture". Is meuble countable?
Yes! Unlike the English word "furniture" which is uncountable, the French word un meuble is countable and refers to one specific item of furniture. To talk about multiple items, you would use des meubles.
Why does vernis end in an "s" if it is singular here?
The noun vernis naturally ends in an "s" in its singular form. You can tell it is singular in this sentence because the verb is est and the adjective is sec, rather than the plural secs.

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