Marie partage le pain avec Paul.

Marie shares the bread with Paul.

Breakdown of Marie partage le pain avec Paul.

• Paul: Paul
• Marie: Marie
• le pain: the bread
• avec: with
• partager: to share

Questions & Answers about Marie partage le pain avec Paul.

What does the verb partage mean, and why is it conjugated in this form?

The verb partage is the third person singular present tense form of partager, meaning "to share." It agrees with the subject Marie, indicating that she is the one doing the sharing.

Why is the definite article le used before pain instead of a partitive form like du?

The article le is the masculine singular definite article meaning "the." In this sentence, it denotes a specific, complete entity being shared—implying that there is one identifiable loaf or amount of bread. When using the verb partager, French typically employs the definite article to indicate that a whole item is divided among people.

What role does the phrase avec Paul play in the sentence?

The phrase avec Paul is a prepositional phrase where avec means "with." It specifies the person involved in the sharing, indicating that Marie is sharing the bread with Paul.

How does the word order in this French sentence compare to its English equivalent?

The word order in French here follows a similar pattern to English: Subject (Marie) – Verb (partage) – Object (le pain) – Prepositional phrase (avec Paul). One key difference is that French requires explicit articles like le before the noun, whereas English might sometimes omit them or use different articles based on context.

Is it acceptable to say Marie partage du pain avec Paul, and what would be the difference in meaning?

Although du pain (a contraction of de le pain) uses a partitive article indicating an unspecified amount of bread, Marie partage le pain avec Paul suggests that a specific, whole item is being shared. Using du pain would imply that she is sharing some bread without referring to a defined quantity, while le pain emphasizes that the whole or a known portion is divided between Marie and Paul.