Question 1

Why is it tel que here instead of telle que or tels que?

Accepted Answer

The phrase tel que (such as) must agree in gender and number with the noun that comes right before it, which is the category you are giving an example of. Here, it agrees with un critère, which is masculine singular, so it stays tel que.

Question 2

If the example was a feminine word instead of le revenu, would tel que change?

Accepted Answer

No, it wouldn't. A very common mistake is making tel que agree with the example itself. Remember that it always agrees with the overarching category (here, un critère), regardless of the gender or number of the specific examples that follow.

Question 3

Is critère always masculine? The ending looks feminine.

Accepted Answer

Yes, un critère is masculine. Words ending in -ère are very often feminine (like la mère or la lumière), so this is a great exception to memorize. Its masculine gender is exactly why we use the masculine tel que.

Question 4

Could I just use comme instead of tel que in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

Yes, you could say Un critère économique, comme le revenu, ne change rien. Using tel que is slightly more formal and precise for giving examples of a category, while comme is more versatile and frequently used in everyday spoken French.

Question 5

Why is there no pas after ne change?

Accepted Answer

The word rien (nothing) is a negative pronoun that pairs with ne to form ne ... rien. In French, you cannot mix two negative structures like ne ... pas and ne ... rien in the same verb phrase, so rien completely replaces pas.

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