J'aime l'eau.

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Breakdown of J'aime l'eau.

• aimer: to like
• l'eau: the water

Questions & Answers about J'aime l'eau.

Why is it J'aime instead of Je aime?

In French, you drop the vowel e from je before a word starting with a vowel or a silent h. This avoids the awkward gap that would occur between je and a vowel or h sound. So je aime becomes j’aime to make pronunciation smoother.

Why do we say l’eau instead of just eau?

In French, you typically need an article before a noun. Here, l’ is the contracted form of the definite article le or la before words starting with a vowel. Eau is feminine, so normally you would use la eau, but because of the initial vowel, it becomes l’eau.

Is eau masculine or feminine?

Despite ending in -eau, the word eau itself is feminine, so the correct definite article is la in full form (but it contracts to l’ in front of eau).

How do I pronounce eau in French?

The combination eau in French is pronounced roughly like oh in English. You can hold the sound slightly longer, but it’s very similar to the English o in go or so.

When do you use the definite article with aimer?

In French, when you use aimer (to like or to love) followed by a noun in a general sense, you use the definite article. For example, J’aime le chocolat (I like chocolate), J’aime la musique (I like music). Since eau is being referred to in a general sense ("I like water"), the definite article l’ is used, leading to J’aime l’eau.