Question 1

Wait, doesn't inhabitable mean 'able to be inhabited'?

Accepted Answer

Actually, it is a major false friend! In French, the prefix in- makes it negative, so inhabitable means uninhabitable (unlivable). If you want to say a place is livable or able to be inhabited, you just use habitable.

Question 2

How would we apply this lesson's grammar to say: 'If the zone is uninhabitable and (if) it doesn't have a breathable atmosphere...'?

Accepted Answer

You would start with si for the first condition, but use que plus the subjunctive to avoid repeating si for the second one: Si la zone est inhabitable et qu'elle n'ait pas d'atmosphère respirable... Remember that the substituting que always forces the subjunctive, even if the original si clause is in the present indicative.

Question 3

Why is it pas d'atmosphère instead of pas une atmosphère?

Accepted Answer

This is a quick refresher on negation: in French, the indefinite articles (un, une, des) almost always change to de (or d' before a vowel) after a negative verb. Because the verb avoir is negated here (n'a pas), the expected une becomes d'.

Question 4

The d' hides the gender of atmosphère. Is it masculine or feminine?

Accepted Answer

It is feminine (une atmosphère). While the adjective respirable ends in an -e for both masculine and feminine nouns and doesn't give it away, words ending in -ère are very often feminine in French.

La zone est inhabitable parce qu'elle n'a pas d'atmosphère respirable.

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