Question 1

How would I change this sentence to say 'You are looking at the lightest wallpaper' using the superlative?

Accepted Answer

Because clair is an adjective that comes after the noun, you must repeat the definite article to form the superlative. 'The lightest wallpaper' becomes le papier peint le plus clair (literally 'the wallpaper the most light'). So the full sentence would be: Vous regardez le papier peint le plus clair.

Question 2

Why does the French word for wallpaper translate literally to 'painted paper'?

Accepted Answer

Papier peint is a compound noun that stuck from the days before mass-printed wallpaper. Grammatically, peint is the past participle of peindre (to paint) acting as an adjective. Because it is essentially part of the noun itself, the descriptive adjective clair simply follows it.

Question 3

The English translation uses 'looking at', but there is no word for 'at' in the French sentence. Is a preposition missing?

Accepted Answer

No preposition is needed. In French, regarder is a direct transitive verb, meaning it takes its object directly. The concept of looking 'at' something is already built into the verb, so you never use a preposition like à after it when talking about looking at things.

Question 4

If I wanted to say 'these light wallpapers', which words in the phrase 'ce papier peint clair' get pluralized?

Accepted Answer

All of them! It becomes ces papiers peints clairs. The demonstrative ce changes to its plural form ces. For the compound noun papier peint, both words get an s because a noun plus adjective combination usually makes both parts plural. Finally, the descriptive adjective clair also takes an s to agree with the plural noun.

Vous regardez ce papier peint clair.

Breakdown of Vous regardez ce papier peint clair.

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