Learn French: C'est dans cet arbre que la chouette pond ses œufs. - It is in this tree that the owl lays its eggs.

C'est dans cet arbre que la chouette pond ses œufs.

It is in this tree that the owl lays its eggs.

Breakdown of C'est dans cet arbre que la chouette pond ses œufs.

Questions & Answers about C'est dans cet arbre que la chouette pond ses œufs.

Since dans cet arbre refers to a place, why do we use que instead of où?

This is a prepositional cleft sentence used for emphasis. The structure is c'est + prepositional phrase + que. Because the preposition dans is already included in the emphasized part (C'est dans cet arbre), the relative pronoun that connects the rest of the sentence must be the neutral que. If you used où, you would be grammatically repeating the idea of location.

Why is the demonstrative adjective cet arbre instead of ce arbre?

Arbre is a masculine singular noun, so normally it would take ce. However, because it starts with a vowel, French uses the special form cet to make pronunciation smoother and avoid a harsh vowel clash. It sounds identical to the feminine cette, but the noun remains grammatically masculine.

The verb pondre means to lay eggs. Is it used in any other contexts?

Literally, it is strictly for animals laying eggs. But at an intermediate to advanced level, it is very useful to know its figurative, informal meaning: to produce or churn out something, often with some effort. For example, a student might complain about having to pondre une dissertation (churn out an essay).

How does the pronunciation of œufs change in the plural?