Le fournisseur d’énergie compare l’auto-relevé et l’estimation.

The energy supplier compares the self-reported reading and the estimate.

Breakdown of Le fournisseur d’énergie compare l’auto-relevé et l’estimation.

• et: and
• comparer: to compare
• le fournisseur d’énergie: the energy supplier
• l’auto-relevé: the self-reported meter reading

Questions & Answers about Le fournisseur d’énergie compare l’auto-relevé et l’estimation.

Why is it d’énergie and not de énergie?

Because de becomes d’ before a vowel sound. This is called elision.

• de + énergie → d’énergie
• French does this to make pronunciation smoother.

You will see this a lot:

• de eau → d’eau
• le ami → l’ami
• je aime → j’aime

So fournisseur d’énergie is just the normal form of supplier of energy.

Why do auto-relevé and estimation both have l’ in front?

Because both nouns are singular and use the definite article le or la, and that article becomes l’ before a vowel sound.

• le auto-relevé would sound awkward, so it becomes l’auto-relevé
• la estimation becomes l’estimation

So l’ can stand for either:

• le
• la

You have to know the noun’s gender to know which one it is replacing.

Is auto-relevé masculine or feminine?