Learn French: Je regarde la femme qui remplit son cabas de légumes. - I watch the woman filling her shopping bag with vegetables.

Je regarde la femme qui remplit son cabas de légumes.

I watch the woman filling her shopping bag with vegetables.

Breakdown of Je regarde la femme qui remplit son cabas de légumes.

of / from / any (in negative sentences) / about (concerning)

Questions & Answers about Je regarde la femme qui remplit son cabas de légumes.

Why use qui remplit instead of a participle like remplissant to mean 'filling'?

After perception verbs like regarder (to watch), voir (to see), or entendre (to hear), French usually uses a relative clause starting with qui to describe an action happening in the moment. While English uses the '-ing' form, French literally says 'watching the woman who fills'.

Why do we use the preposition de in remplit son cabas de légumes instead of avec (with)?

In French, the verb remplir (to fill) requires the preposition de to express what something is being filled with. Even though English uses 'with', translating it as avec would sound unnatural here.

Since 'vegetables' is plural, shouldn't it be des légumes instead of just de légumes?

This is a common trap! Because the verb structure is remplir de, we are combining that preposition de with the plural indefinite article des (some vegetables). In French grammar, the combination of de + des simplifies to just de.

Is there a specific reason to use cabas here instead of the general word sac?