Question 1

Why does the verb revendiquez end in -ez instead of matching a third-person subject like "it is"?

Accepted Answer

In sentences structured as C'est [pronoun] qui... (called cleft sentences), the verb after qui has to agree with the pronoun that comes right before it. Because the pronoun here is vous, the verb must take the -ez ending (vous qui revendiquez), rather than defaulting to a third-person form.

Question 2

Why use le mérite des brochettes instead of le mérite pour les brochettes? The English translation says "credit for".

Accepted Answer

In French, you claim the credit of something, not for something. The standard structure is le mérite de [quelque chose]. In this sentence, the preposition de combines with the plural definite article les to become des.

Question 3

Could I use prendre le crédit instead of revendiquer le mérite?

Accepted Answer

While you might hear prendre le crédit as an Anglicism, revendiquer le mérite (literally "to claim the merit") or s'attribuer le mérite are the standard, natural ways to say "to take credit" or "to claim credit" in French. Revendiquer is a great B2 verb meaning to claim or demand a right.

Question 4

Since this is a question, why doesn't it start with Est-ce or invert the subject?

Accepted Answer

This sentence uses a very common everyday spoken French technique: keeping the standard statement word order (C'est vous qui...) and simply raising your pitch at the end to turn it into a question. If you wanted to write this more formally, you could invert the first part to Est-ce vous qui revendiquez....

C'est vous qui revendiquez le mérite des brochettes ?

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