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Marie achète un ordinateur portable.

Marie achète un ordinateur portable.
Marie buys a laptop.
FromLesson 13inHardcore French
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Breakdown of Marie achète un ordinateur portable.

Marie
Marie
acheter
to buy
l'ordinateur
the computer
portable
portable
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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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Questions & Answers about Marie achète un ordinateur portable.

What is the subject of the sentence "Marie achète un ordinateur portable."?
The subject is Marie. She is the one performing the action of buying.
What does the verb achète mean, and what tense is it in?
Achète is the present indicative form of the verb acheter. It means "buys" or "is buying" in English, and it is conjugated for the third-person singular to agree with Marie.
Why is the indefinite article un used before ordinateur portable?
The article un is used because ordinateur is a masculine noun in French. Since ordinateur is masculine, the indefinite article must agree with it, hence un instead of une.
What does the phrase ordinateur portable mean?
The phrase ordinateur portable translates to "laptop" or "portable computer" in English. It refers to a computer that is designed to be easily moved or carried.
Why is the adjective portable placed after the noun ordinateur?
In French, most descriptive adjectives follow the noun they modify. Portable comes after ordinateur to describe the type of computer, and it also agrees in gender and number with the noun.
Does the sentence follow a standard French word order?
Yes, it does. The sentence follows the typical French subject-verb-object (SVO) structure: Marie (subject) + achète (verb) + un ordinateur portable (object).