Dans le couloir de l’immeuble, je pose mon parapluie pour ne pas mouiller le sol.

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Breakdown of Dans le couloir de l’immeuble, je pose mon parapluie pour ne pas mouiller le sol.

• mon: my
• ne ... pas: not
• dans: in
• de: of
• l'immeuble: the building
• le parapluie: the umbrella
• le couloir: the corridor
• mouiller: to wet
• le sol: the floor

Questions & Answers about Dans le couloir de l’immeuble, je pose mon parapluie pour ne pas mouiller le sol.

Why do we use dans le couloir instead of something like au couloir?

Dans indicates that you are physically inside or within a space. Au would imply something more like "at the corridor" or "to the corridor," which doesn’t make sense in French for being inside a hallway. In everyday use, dans le couloir is the standard way to say "in the hallway."

What is the function of de l’immeuble in dans le couloir de l’immeuble?

De l’immeuble specifies which hallway you’re talking about. It’s a complément du nom, meaning it adds detail to "couloir" by indicating that it belongs to the building.

Why do we say je pose mon parapluie rather than je mets mon parapluie?

Poser means "to set down," emphasizing that you’re placing the umbrella somewhere carefully or intentionally. Mettre is more general and can mean "put," "wear," or "place," but it doesn’t carry the connotation of setting something down as clearly as poser does.

Why is pour ne pas mouiller used instead of pour ne?

In French, negation around a verb generally uses ne… pas. So when you want to say "in order not to," you have to include the full structure ne… pas around the verb, giving pour ne pas + infinitive.

Why do we say mouiller le sol instead of something like mouiller au sol?

Mouiller (to make wet) takes a direct object, so le sol is directly receiving the action ("the floor is getting wet"). Using au sol would change the meaning and is grammatically incorrect in this context.