Learn French: Même s'il est fatigué, le garde-côte va veiller. - Even if he is tired, the coastguard is going to keep watch.

Même s'il est fatigué, le garde-côte va veiller.

Even if he is tired, the coastguard is going to keep watch.

Breakdown of Même s'il est fatigué, le garde-côte va veiller.

Questions & Answers about Même s'il est fatigué, le garde-côte va veiller.

Why does this sentence use the indicative est instead of the subjunctive after même si?

In French, même si (even if) is always followed by the indicative mood, never the subjunctive. Learners often want to use the subjunctive here because the phrase expresses a concession or hypothesis, similar to bien que (although). However, the rule is strict: always use the indicative after même si.

Is it mandatory to contract si and il into s'il after même?

Yes. The word si only ever drops its vowel and adds an apostrophe before il and ils. It never contracts before other vowels, so you would write même si elle est or même si on est, but always même s'il est.

Why is garde-côte masculine (le) when the word côte (coast) is feminine?

When a compound noun is formed by combining a verb (garde, from garder) and a noun (côte), the resulting compound noun is generally masculine when it refers to a person or a profession. This happens regardless of the original gender of the noun inside it.

Does the verb veiller always mean to keep watch?

Not always. While it means to keep watch or to stay on duty in this coastguard context, veiller is also commonly used in everyday French to simply mean to stay up late or to stay awake.