Breakdown of Il est très inapproprié d'offenser l'hôte.
être
to be
très
very
il
it (impersonal subject)
l'hôte
the host (m)
de
to (introducing an infinitive after a verb)
inapproprié
inappropriate
offenser
to offend
Questions & Answers about Il est très inapproprié d'offenser l'hôte.
Why do we use Il est here instead of C'est?
In formal or standard French, impersonal expressions (like "It is inappropriate") use Il est followed by an adjective and the preposition de before an infinitive. In everyday spoken French, you will often hear C'est très inapproprié de..., but Il est is the strictly correct written form.
Why is there a d' before offenser?
When you use the impersonal construction Il est + [adjective], you must link it to the following infinitive verb with the preposition de (which becomes d' before a vowel). The structure is always Il est [adjectif] de [infinitif].
I've seen hôte used to mean "guest". Does it mean "host" or "guest" here?
Since this lesson is about être censé (to be supposed to), how would we rewrite this sentence using that expression?
You could express the same expectation by saying On n'est pas censé offenser l'hôte (One is not supposed to offend the host). Notice that unlike Il est inapproprié de, the expression être censé is followed directly by the infinitive offenser without needing the preposition de.
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