J'ai besoin d'eau froide aujourd'hui.

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Breakdown of J'ai besoin d'eau froide aujourd'hui.

• l'eau: the water
• aujourd'hui: today
• froid: cold
• de: some
• avoir besoin de: to need

Questions & Answers about J'ai besoin d'eau froide aujourd'hui.

Why do we say J'ai besoin instead of Je besoin?

In French, the expression avoir besoin de literally means to have need of. You conjugate the verb avoir (to have), so you get j'ai (I have) rather than je. Then, you follow it with besoin (need) and de (of).

Why is it d'eau and not de l'eau?

When de comes directly before a word starting with a vowel (like eau), the final e disappears and is replaced by an apostrophe (d'). You could say de l'eau in other contexts, but when it's part of the set phrase avoir besoin de, the simpler form d'eau is common and natural in everyday speech.

Why does froide (cold) come after eau (water) instead of before it?

In French, many adjectives usually follow the noun rather than preceding it. Froide is a descriptive adjective, so it commonly goes after eau. However, there are exceptions in French where adjectives can come before the noun, but froide is normally placed after in standard usage.

Why do we use aujourd'hui to mean “today”?

Aujourd'hui literally combines several older French words meaning on the day of today. Over time, it became the standard way to say today. Even though the literal breakdown may seem repetitive (hui once meant “today” on its own), it has become the single word for “today” in modern French.