Learn French: Même le chef bricole aujourd'hui. - Even the boss is doing DIY today.

Même le chef bricole aujourd'hui.

Even the boss is doing DIY today.

Breakdown of Même le chef bricole aujourd'hui.

le chef

the boss / the manager

Questions & Answers about Même le chef bricole aujourd'hui.

Why is Même placed at the very beginning of this sentence?

When même is used as an adverb meaning "even", it is placed immediately before the word or phrase it emphasizes. Because it emphasizes the subject (le chef), it has to go at the start of the sentence.

If the subject were plural (les chefs), would Même need an -s at the end?

No. When même means "even", it acts as an adverb and is therefore invariable (it never changes form). It would remain Même les chefs bricolent. It only takes an -s when it means "same" (as an adjective) or in plural emphatic pronouns like eux-mêmes.

How would the sentence change if we wanted to say "The boss himself is doing DIY"?

You would use the emphatic pronoun suffix rather than the adverb. The sentence would become: Le chef lui-même bricole aujourd'hui.

The translation says "is doing DIY", but the French just uses the verb bricole. How exactly is this verb used?

Bricoler is a very common verb meaning "to do DIY", "to tinker", or "to do odd jobs". French often uses a single verb where English uses "to do" plus a noun. Informally, it can also mean fixing something in a makeshift or amateur way.