Learn French: Ces filles synchronisent-elles l'apnée pour cette figure ? - Are these girls synchronizing the breath-holding for this figure?

Ces filles synchronisent-elles l'apnée pour cette figure ?

Are these girls synchronizing the breath-holding for this figure?

Breakdown of Ces filles synchronisent-elles l'apnée pour cette figure ?

Questions & Answers about Ces filles synchronisent-elles l'apnée pour cette figure ?

Why is there an -elles after the verb when the subject Ces filles is already at the beginning?

This is called complex inversion, and it is used in formal questions. When your subject is a noun (like Ces filles) rather than a pronoun, you cannot simply swap the subject and the verb. Instead, you state the noun subject, add the verb, and then attach the matching pronoun (elles) with a hyphen.

Does l'apnée mean the medical condition "apnea" here?

Not in this context. While l'apnée does mean "apnea" medically, in everyday French it is the standard word for "breath-holding", especially underwater. It is also the name for the sport of freediving.

What does figure mean in this sentence? Is it a number or shape?

While figure can mean a face or a shape, in the context of sports and dance (like artistic swimming, which fits with holding breath), it refers to a specific "move", "trick", or "routine".

Do I pronounce the -t at the end of synchronisent?

Yes, because of the inversion. Even though the -ent ending on third-person plural verbs is normally silent, when it is hyphenated to a vowel-starting pronoun like -elles, you must make the liaison. It sounds like "synchronise-TELL".