L'oiseau chante dans le jardin.

The bird sings in the garden.

Breakdown of L'oiseau chante dans le jardin.

• dans: in
• le jardin: the garden
• chanter: to sing
• l'oiseau: the bird

Questions & Answers about L'oiseau chante dans le jardin.

Why is there an apostrophe in l'oiseau?

The apostrophe in l'oiseau indicates elision. In French, when the definite article le is placed before a vowel-initiated noun like oiseau (meaning bird), the vowel is dropped and replaced with an apostrophe for smoother pronunciation. Thus, le oiseau becomes l'oiseau.

What does chante tell us about the verb and its subject?

The word chante is the third person singular present tense form of the verb chanter (to sing). It agrees with the singular subject l'oiseau. This shows that the bird is currently singing, and it demonstrates proper subject–verb agreement in French.

How is the phrase dans le jardin structured and what role does it play?

The phrase dans le jardin is a prepositional phrase that indicates location. Dans means in, le is the definite article the, and jardin means garden. It tells us where the action (singing) is taking place, following the typical Subject-Verb-Complement structure in French.

What is the standard word order in this French sentence?

The sentence follows the standard French word order: Subject → Verb → Complement. Here, l'oiseau is the subject, chante is the verb, and dans le jardin is the complement that specifies the location. This clear structure helps learners identify each component of the sentence.

How would you transform the sentence into its negative form?

To express negation in French, you surround the conjugated verb with ne and pas. Therefore, the negative form of the sentence becomes L'oiseau ne chante pas dans le jardin, meaning The bird does not sing in the garden.