Breakdown of La plupart des déchets doivent être triés à la déchetterie.
être
to be
à
at / to / in (general locations) / about (what one thinks about / reacts to)
devoir
to have to / must
le déchet
the waste, garbage
trier
to sort
la plupart de
most of
la déchetterie
the recycling center
Questions & Answers about La plupart des déchets doivent être triés à la déchetterie.
How does the passive voice work with the modal verb devoir in this sentence?
To use the passive voice with a modal verb, you conjugate the modal verb (doivent), add the infinitive être, and follow it with a past participle (triés). The structure perfectly mirrors English: must (doivent) plus be (être) plus sorted (triés).
Why does the past participle triés have an -s at the end?
In the passive voice, the past participle always agrees in gender and number with the subject of the sentence. The main subject noun here is déchets, which is masculine plural, so trié must take an -s.
La plupart is a singular word. Why is the verb doivent conjugated in the plural?
The English translation uses the singular word waste, but the French uses the plural des déchets. Why?
Why is it la plupart des instead of la plupart de? Do not quantity words usually just take de?
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