Ils vont sortir de la maison maintenant.

They are going to leave the house now.

Breakdown of Ils vont sortir de la maison maintenant.

• la maison: the house
• ils: they
• maintenant: now
• sortir: to go out
• de: from

Questions & Answers about Ils vont sortir de la maison maintenant.

Why is ils used here instead of ils or elles?

In French, the subject pronoun ils is used to refer to a group of men or a mixed group of men and women. If it were only women, you would use elles. Since the sentence doesn't specify an all-female group, ils is the default plural pronoun.

What is the function of vont in this sentence?

Vont is the third-person plural form of the verb aller (to go), which is used to form the near future in French. Ils vont sortir translates to "They are going to go out" rather than a simple present tense.

Why do we say sortir de la maison and not sortir la maison?

In French, when using sortir to indicate leaving a place, you typically use the preposition de. Since maison is a feminine noun preceded by the definite article la, you get de la maison.

How would this sentence differ if we used the simple present tense instead of vont?

If you used the present tense, it would be Ils sortent de la maison maintenant, meaning "They are going out of the house now." The meaning is similar, but with vont sortir, you emphasize the immediate or planned nature of that action (the near future).

Does maintenant always come at the end of the sentence?

Not necessarily. In French, maintenant can appear at the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence, though the end position is very common. You could also say Maintenant, ils vont sortir de la maison for emphasis on the time aspect.