Où vas-tu mettre les grands porte-manteaux ?

From Lesson 440:Plural compound nouns·French

Questions & Answers about Où vas-tu mettre les grands porte-manteaux ?

Why does manteaux get an 'x' in the plural, but porte doesn't change?
In French compound nouns made of a verb and a noun, the verb part never changes in the plural. Since porte comes from the verb porter (to carry or hold), it stays singular. The noun part (manteau) takes a normal plural ending, which in this case is an x.
How does this pluralization rule differ if a compound noun is made of two nouns?
When a compound noun consists of two nouns, like un chou-fleur (a cauliflower), both nouns usually take a plural marker: des choux-fleurs. But as you see in porte-manteaux, if the first word is a verb, only the noun gets pluralized.
Why is the adjective grands placed before the noun porte-manteaux?
While most French adjectives come after the noun, grand belongs to a short list of common adjectives that come before it. You can remember these with the acronym BAGS: Beauty, Age, Goodness, and Size. Since grand describes size, it goes before the noun.
When forming a question in the near future tense, why is vas inverted instead of mettre?
In two-verb structures like the futur proche (near future), inversion only applies to the conjugated verb. Here, vas is the conjugated verb, so it swaps places with the subject pronoun tu, while the infinitive mettre stays exactly where it is.

Learn Où vas-tu mettre les grands porte-manteaux and more in French

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • Practice with interactive exercises
  • Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • Learn at your own pace — completely free