Breakdown of Il a cassé sa queue de billard, si bien qu'il ne joue plus.
il
he
avoir
to have
de
of / from / any (in negative sentences) / about (concerning)
jouer
to play
son
his/her/its (son, sa, ses)
casser
to break
ne... plus
(not) anymore / no longer
si bien que
so much so that
le billard
the pool table
la queue
the cue
Questions & Answers about Il a cassé sa queue de billard, si bien qu'il ne joue plus.
Why is si bien que used here instead of tel or telle, given the current lesson?
Si bien que means "so much so that" or "as a result." While tel and telle mean "such" and are also used to show intensity and consequence, they are adjectives that must modify a noun. You would use tel if you added a noun, like Il a cassé sa queue avec une telle force que... (He broke his cue with such force that...). Here, you are just linking a whole event to its consequence, so the conjunction si bien que is used instead.
Does si bien que require the subjunctive mood for the verb joue?
No, it takes the indicative mood because it expresses a factual result or consequence. Since him no longer playing is an actual result of breaking the cue, we use the normal present tense joue.
Why is it queue de billard without an article like du or le before billard?
When a noun is used to describe the type or purpose of another noun, they are connected simply by de without a definite article. It works like a compound noun in English. Queue de billard means "pool cue" generally, whereas queue du billard would sound like a cue belonging to one specific pool table.
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