Breakdown of Le chat va en arrière.
Questions & Answers about Le chat va en arrière.
Why do we use en here instead of just arrière?
The word arrière means 'back' or 'rear' as a noun. Adding en in front of it creates an expression that describes a direction of movement. Together, en arrière translates to 'backwards'. Which verb is va from?
Va comes from the irregular verb aller, which means 'to go'. Because le chat (the cat) is a singular noun, we use the 'he/she/it' form, which is va. How would I use the question word où to ask about the cat's direction?
If you wanted to ask where the cat is going, you could say Où va le chat ? (Where is the cat going?). The directional phrase en arrière answers that question! How do I pronounce en arrière? Do I pronounce the 'n'?
Yes! Because en ends in an 'n' and arrière starts with a vowel, you connect them when speaking. This spoken link is called a liaison, making it sound like 'en-narrière'. Learn Le chat va en arrière and more in French
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