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Marie et Paul travaillent sur un projet.

Marie et Paul travaillent sur un projet.
Marie and Paul work on a project.
FromLesson 8inHardcore French

Breakdown of Marie et Paul travaillent sur un projet.

Paul
Paul
Marie
Marie
et
and
sur
on
travailler
to work
le projet
the project

Questions & Answers about Marie et Paul travaillent sur un projet.

Why is the verb travaillent spelled with an -ent ending?
The -ent ending in travaillent indicates that the verb is conjugated for the third person plural. Since Marie et Paul form a plural subject, French grammar requires the verb to agree in number by taking this ending—even though it isn’t pronounced.
How does the verb form travaillent show subject-verb agreement?
In French, verbs must agree with their subjects. Here, Marie et Paul are two people, so the verb travaillent, which is the third person plural form of the regular verb travailler, is used to properly match the plural subject.
What is the role of et in the sentence?
The word et is a coordinating conjunction meaning and in English. It is used here to join the two subjects, Marie and Paul, into one compound subject.
What is the subject of the sentence?
The subject is Marie et Paul. In French sentences, the subject typically appears at the beginning, and in this case, the names together form a compound subject that performs the action of working.
Why does the sentence use the preposition sur before un projet?
In this context, sur translates to on in English. It is used with the verb travailler to indicate the focus or area of work. Thus, travaillent sur un projet means they are working on a project.
Why is the article un used before projet?
The article un is the indefinite article used for masculine singular nouns in French. Since projet is a masculine noun and refers to an unspecified project, un is the correct choice—similar to saying a project in English.
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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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