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Learn Hardcore French: Le septième train arrive. - The seventh train arrives.

Hardcore French
/Completing a rental move-out inspection
/Le septième train arrive.

Le septième train arrive.

Le septième train arrive.

The seventh train arrives.

Breakdown of Le septième train arrive.

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Questions & Answers about Le septième train arrive.

What does septième mean here?

Septième means seventh. It is an ordinal number, used to show position in a sequence.

sept = seven
septième = seventh

So le septième train means the seventh train.

Why is there le at the beginning?

Le is the masculine singular definite article, meaning the.

It is used because train is a masculine singular noun, and the sentence is talking about a specific train: the seventh train, not just any train.

Compare:

un train = a train
le train = the train

Why is septième before train?

In French, ordinal numbers like premier, deuxième, troisième, septième, etc. normally come before the noun.

So:

le septième train = the seventh train

This is the standard word order in French.

Why is it train and not some feminine form?

Because train is a masculine noun in French.

That is why the article is le, not la.

With this particular adjective, septième, the form is the same in masculine and feminine singular:

le septième train
la septième voiture

So the gender shows up clearly in the article, even though septième itself does not change between masculine and feminine singular.

Is arrive in the present tense?

Yes. Arrive is the third-person singular present tense form of arriver.

So:

j’arrive = I arrive / I am arriving
tu arrives = you arrive
il / elle arrive = he / she arrives
le septième train arrive = the seventh train arrives / is arriving

In French, the present tense can often translate to either simple present or present progressive in English, depending on context.

What is the subject of the sentence?

The subject is Le septième train.

That whole noun phrase acts as the subject:

Le septième train = subject
arrive = verb

So the structure is:

subject + verb

How do you pronounce Le septième train arrive?

A careful pronunciation is approximately:

lə sɛ.tjɛm tʁɛ̃ a.ʁiv

A few useful notes:

le sounds like luh, with a very light vowel
septième is roughly seh-tyem
train has a nasal vowel, roughly like tran said through the nose
arrive sounds like ah-reev
the final e in arrive is silent

There is no special liaison you need to force in this sentence.

Why is it septième and not just sept?

Because sept is a cardinal number and septième is an ordinal number.

sept trains = seven trains
le septième train = the seventh train

Use sept for quantity, and septième for order or rank.

Could I say Le train septième arrive instead?

No, that would not be normal French.

With ordinal numbers, French normally places the ordinal before the noun:

correct: Le septième train arrive
not natural: Le train septième arrive

If you wanted to talk about a numbered train rather than its position in a sequence, you might say something like le train numéro sept. That means train number seven, which is a slightly different idea from the seventh train.

Does septième change in the plural?

Yes. In the plural, it usually adds -s:

le septième train = the seventh train
les septièmes trains = the seventh trains

But in real life, the plural version is less common unless you are talking about several separate groups or series.

In the singular, masculine and feminine are both spelled septième:

le septième train
la septième gare

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