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Breakdown of Ils parlent avec leur famille dans le jardin.
avec
with
la famille
the family
dans
in
le jardin
the garden
ils
they
leur
their
parler
to talk
Questions & Answers about Ils parlent avec leur famille dans le jardin.
Why do we say leur famille and not leurs famille?
In French, leur is the possessive adjective used when referring to a single thing owned by multiple people (in this case, one family shared by everyone). If we were talking about multiple families, we would use leurs (e.g., leurs familles).
Why is the word le used before jardin?
French nouns almost always need an article, such as le (masculine) or la (feminine). Here, le jardin means the garden, specifically referencing that location. We say dans le jardin to indicate being physically in that garden.
Could we say Ils parlent à leur famille dans le jardin instead of avec?
Yes, you could use à if you mean they are speaking to their family. Avec suggests they are speaking with their family in a more interactive way. Both are correct; they just have slightly different nuances.
What is the difference between Ils and Elles when starting a sentence?
Ils is the masculine (or mixed gender) plural pronoun for they, while Elles is exclusively the feminine plural pronoun for they. In sentences involving men and women or an all-male group, ils is used by default.
Why is the verb parlent used and not parlons or parle?
Parlent is the conjugation of parler (to speak) for ils/elles (they). Parlons is the nous (we) form, and parle is used for je, il/elle, or on. The subject here is ils, so we need parlent.
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“How does grammatical gender work in French?”
Every French noun is either masculine or feminine, and this affects the articles and adjectives used with it. "Le" is used with masculine nouns and "la" with feminine ones. Adjectives also change form to match — for example, "petit" (masc.) becomes "petite" (fem.).
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