Question 1

Why are there two nous words at the beginning of the sentence?

Accepted Answer

The verb here is se marier (to get married), which is a reflexive verb. The first nous is the subject ("we"), and the second nous is the reflexive pronoun ("ourselves").

Question 2

Why does this sentence use sommes instead of avons for the past tense?

Accepted Answer

In the passé composé (the past tense used here), all reflexive verbs take être as their helping verb instead of avoir. Since we are using the reflexive verb se marier, we must use sommes instead of avons.

Question 3

Why is there an "s" at the end of mariés?

Accepted Answer

Because this verb uses être as its helping verb, the past participle (marié) must agree with the subject. Since nous (we) is plural, we add an s to make it mariés. If the "we" referred exclusively to women, it would be spelled mariées.

Question 4

Why do we use à instead of dans to say "in the church"?

Accepted Answer

In French, à l'église is used when talking about the church as an institution, an event, or a regular function, much like saying "at church" in English. If you wanted to emphasize being physically enclosed inside the building itself, you would use dans l'église.

Nous nous sommes mariés à l'église.

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