Learn French: La chouette nettoie son bec et ses plumes. - The owl cleans its beak and its feathers.

La chouette nettoie son bec et ses plumes.

The owl cleans its beak and its feathers.

Breakdown of La chouette nettoie son bec et ses plumes.

Questions & Answers about La chouette nettoie son bec et ses plumes.

Why use chouette here instead of hibou for "owl"?

French distinguishes between owls without ear-tufts (chouette, like a barn owl) and owls with them (hibou, like a horned owl). As a bonus B2 fact, chouette is also a very common informal adjective meaning "great" or "cool" (e.g., C'est chouette !).

Why is the verb spelled nettoie instead of nettoye?

For verbs ending in -oyer and -uyer (like nettoyer, to clean), the y must change to an i whenever it comes before a silent e. Because the -e ending for the elle form is silent, the stem changes to nettoie.

Could I translate "its beak and feathers" by just saying son bec et plumes?

No, French requires you to repeat the possessive adjective before every noun in a series, even if English drops it. You must use son to match the masculine singular bec, and ses to match the plural plumes.

If I wanted to use the cleft structure from this lesson to emphasize the objects being cleaned, how would I say it?

Because son bec et ses plumes are direct objects (they don't use a preposition), you wouldn't use a prepositional cleft. You would just use standard c'est ... que: C'est son bec et ses plumes que la chouette nettoie. (It is its beak and its feathers that the owl cleans).