Breakdown of Tu propulses les filles, puis c'est à lui de faire le salto.
tu
you (informal singular)
la fille
the girl
lui
him / to him / to her (indirect object)
faire
to do, to make
c'est
it is, that is
puis
then, next
de
to (introducing an infinitive after a verb)
à
up to (someone's turn/duty)
propulser
to propel
le salto
the somersault
Questions & Answers about Tu propulses les filles, puis c'est à lui de faire le salto.
How does the phrase c'est à lui de faire translate to "it's his turn to do"?
This is a set structure in French used to express a turn or a duty. You use c'est à followed by a stressed pronoun (like lui, moi, elle) or a noun, then de plus an infinitive verb. Here, it literally translates as "it is to him to do", which we express in English as "it's his turn to do" or "it's up to him to do".
Why do we use lui here instead of the subject pronoun il?
Because it follows the preposition à. In French, whenever a pronoun comes directly after a preposition (like à, de, avec, pour), you must use a stressed pronoun (also called a disjunctive pronoun). Therefore, the subject pronoun il becomes the stressed pronoun lui.
Could I say c'est son tour de faire le salto instead?
Yes, c'est son tour de is another perfectly natural way to say "it's his turn to". The structure c'est à lui de is just a slightly more versatile idiom that can mean both "it's his turn to" and "it's his responsibility to", depending on whether the context is taking turns in a routine, as seen here, or sharing chores.
What kind of context are propulses and le salto used in here?
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