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Ces terres appartiennent au village.

Ces terres appartiennent au village.
These lands belong to the village.
From Lesson 443:Verbs that change meaning with prepositions·French

Breakdown of Ces terres appartiennent au village.

le village
the village
la terre
the earth, ground
appartenir
to belong

Questions & Answers about Ces terres appartiennent au village.

Why is it au village instead of just le village?
The verb appartenir (to belong) is an indirect transitive verb, which means it requires the preposition à to connect it to the owner. Because village is masculine, à and le contract into au. You can never attach the owner directly as a direct object.
Is appartenir ever used as a direct transitive verb without à?
No, appartenir never takes a direct object to mean "belong". However, it has another common meaning when used impersonally: il appartient à [quelqu'un] de [faire quelque chose] means "it is up to [someone] to [do something]." Even then, the preposition à is still required!
Why does appartiennent have a double N here, when the infinitive appartenir has only one?
Appartenir is conjugated based on the verb tenir (to hold). Just like tenir and venir, it doubles its n in the third-person plural of the present tense (ils/elles appartiennent) because the ending -ent is silent. This double consonant keeps the preceding vowel sound open.
Why use the plural terres here instead of the singular terre?
While the singular la terre usually means "the Earth," "the ground," or "dirt," using the plural ces terres specifically refers to plots of land, estates, or territory. It shows the village owns multiple fields or a large area of property, rather than just a patch of soil.

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