Learn French: Ce signal cognitif est important ; explique-le-moi ! - This cognitive signal is important; explain it to me!

Ce signal cognitif est important ; explique-le-moi !

This cognitive signal is important; explain it to me!

Breakdown of Ce signal cognitif est important ; explique-le-moi !

Questions & Answers about Ce signal cognitif est important ; explique-le-moi !

Why is the pronoun order le-moi instead of me-le?

In affirmative commands (the imperative), pronouns move after the verb and are attached with hyphens. When using two pronouns, the direct object (le, la, or les) always comes before the indirect object (moi, toi, lui, nous, vous, leur). That's why "explain it to me" becomes explique-le-moi. If this were a negative command, the order would flip back to normal: ne me l'explique pas.

Since this is a command to "tu", why doesn't explique end in an 's'?

Regular -er verbs (like expliquer) drop the final 's' in the tu form of the imperative. You only add the 's' back if the verb is immediately followed by the pronouns y or en to make it flow better (like vas-y or parles-en). Since we are using le here, the 's' stays dropped.

How do you pronounce the "gn" in cognitif? Is it like the sound in magnifique?

No, it's actually an exception! While "gn" usually makes a soft "ny" sound (like in oignon or gagner), in academic or scientific words like cognitif or diagnostic, you pronounce both the hard 'g' and the 'n' separately: /cog-nee-teef/.