Word
Les gardes du corps empêchent que la foule n'entoure le président.
Meaning
The bodyguards prevent the crowd from surrounding the president.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Les gardes du corps empêchent que la foule n'entoure le président.
que
that (introducing a clause)
la foule
the crowd
le président
the president
ne
expletive particle (no negative meaning, e.g. after "for fear that")
Questions & Answers about Les gardes du corps empêchent que la foule n'entoure le président.
Why is there an n' before entoure if the English translation doesn't say "not surrounding"?
This is the ne explétif. It is often used in formal written French after verbs of prevention like empêcher que (to prevent) or éviter que (to avoid). It doesn't make the sentence negative at all! It is just a stylistic quirk to emphasize that an action is being blocked. In everyday speech, you will often hear this sentence without the n'.
Is entoure in the indicative or the subjunctive mood here?
It is in the subjunctive mood. Verbs expressing prevention, like empêcher que, always require the subjunctive in the following clause. Because entourer is a regular -er verb, its present subjunctive form (entoure) happens to look identical to its present indicative form.
Could we use an infinitive here instead of que plus the subjunctive?
Yes, and it's actually much more common in spoken French! You can use the structure empêcher [quelqu'un] de [faire quelque chose]. This sentence would then become: Les gardes du corps empêchent la foule d'entourer le président. The que structure shown in this example is perfectly correct but leans slightly more formal.
Why is it gardes du corps and not gardes des corps since there are multiple bodyguards?