Il lit un livre aujourd'hui.

He reads a book today.

Breakdown of Il lit un livre aujourd'hui.

• il: he
• lire: to read
• le livre: the book
• aujourd'hui: today

Questions & Answers about Il lit un livre aujourd'hui.

Why do we use Il at the start of the sentence instead of Ils?

Il is the third-person singular pronoun meaning he (or it in some contexts), while Ils is the plural pronoun meaning they. Since the sentence speaks about a single person, we use Il.

Why is the verb in the sentence spelled lit and not lire or lis?

Lit is the third-person singular present-tense form of the verb lire (to read). In French, je lis, tu lis, il/elle lit, nous lisons, vous lisez, ils/elles lisent. So when the subject is il, the correct form is lit.

Why do we say un livre instead of une livre?

Livre (meaning book) is a masculine noun in French, so it takes the masculine article un. The word livre also exists as a feminine noun (meaning pound, referring to currency or weight), but in the context of reading, livre is masculine.

Is there any special reason aujourd'hui has so many letters and an apostrophe?

Aujourd'hui literally comes from older French components that mean on the day of today. It combined au jour d'hui into one word, retaining an apostrophe. It's just one of those historical spellings you’ll see frequently in modern French.

Do the French commonly say Il lit to mean He is reading, or would they use a different structure for ongoing actions?

In French, the simple present tense (Il lit) can mean both He reads and He is reading. You don’t need an extra helper verb as in English. Sometimes, people use être en train de (Il est en train de lire) to emphasize that it’s happening right now, but it’s optional.

Can Il lit un livre aujourd'hui imply he reads every day, or is it specifically about today?

Since aujourd’hui means today, the sentence focuses on the action taking place today. If you wanted to say he reads every day, you’d use something like Il lit tous les jours (He reads every day).