Learn French: Tu devrais réduire tes efforts parce que tu t'essouffles plus que les autres. - You should reduce your efforts because you get out of breath more than the others.

Tu devrais réduire tes efforts parce que tu t'essouffles plus que les autres.

You should reduce your efforts because you get out of breath more than the others.

Breakdown of Tu devrais réduire tes efforts parce que tu t'essouffles plus que les autres.

you (informal singular)

Questions & Answers about Tu devrais réduire tes efforts parce que tu t'essouffles plus que les autres.

Why are plus and que right next to each other in this sentence?

Because you are comparing a verb. To say someone does an action "more than" someone else, use the verb followed directly by plus que. Here, it modifies the verb t'essouffles to mean "you get out of breath more than".

Do I pronounce the 's' at the end of plus here?

Yes, you pronounce the 's'. When plus modifies a verb (like t'essouffles) rather than an adjective, the final 's' is always pronounced.

Why use devrais instead of dois?

Devrais is the conditional form of devoir. While tu dois means "you must" (a strong obligation), tu devrais translates to "you should". It is used to give advice, which makes the suggestion to reduce effort sound much softer.

What is the root of the verb s'essouffler?

It comes from the noun le souffle, which means "breath". The prefix es- generally indicates an outward action or a loss, so s'essouffler literally means "to lose one's breath" or "to get out of breath".