Question 1

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

Accepted Answer

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 !).

Question 2

Why is the verb spelled nettoie instead of nettoye?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 3

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

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 4

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

Accepted Answer

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).

La chouette nettoie son bec et ses plumes.

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