Question 1

The current lesson is about choosing between Il est and C'est. How would I rewrite this sentence to say 'He is a very young lieutenant'?

Accepted Answer

Because the profession (lieutenant) is modified by an adjective (très jeune), you must use C'est un instead of Il est plus the zero article. The correct sentence would be: C'est un très jeune lieutenant.

Question 2

If I rewrite this as C'est un très jeune lieutenant, why does jeune go before the noun?

Accepted Answer

Jeune refers to age, making it one of the short, common adjectives that typically precede the noun. Adding the adverb très does not change this placement rule, so putting it before the profession is perfectly natural.

Question 3

What if the lieutenant is a woman? Does the word lieutenant change?

Accepted Answer

Traditionally, military ranks in French remain masculine regardless of the person's gender, so you would still say notre lieutenant. However, the feminized form lieutenante is becoming much more common today, especially in civilian or police contexts.

Question 4

Do I make a liaison between est and très when saying this sentence out loud?

Accepted Answer

In everyday spoken French, no. While a liaison after the third-person verb est is grammatically optional, native speakers almost never pronounce the 't' before words like très in casual conversation.

Notre lieutenant est très jeune.

Breakdown of Notre lieutenant est très jeune.

Questions & Answers about Notre lieutenant est très jeune.

Learn Notre lieutenant est très jeune and more in French