……
Breakdown of Paul paie un bon prix pour la voiture rouge.
Paul
Paul
rouge
red
la voiture
the car
pour
for
payer
to pay
bon
good
le prix
the price
AI Language TutorTry it ↗
“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.).
Sign up free — start using our AI language tutor
Start learning FrenchMaster French — from Paul paie un bon prix pour la voiture rouge to fluency
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods.
- ✓ Infinitely deep — unlimited vocabulary and grammar
- ✓ Fast-paced — build complex sentences from the start
- ✓ Unforgettable — efficient spaced repetition system
- ✓ AI tutor to answer your grammar questions
More from this lesson
Questions & Answers about Paul paie un bon prix pour la voiture rouge.
What does paie mean in this sentence, and why is it sometimes seen spelled as paye?
Paie is the third-person singular present tense form of the verb payer, which means “to pay.” Both paie and paye are accepted spellings in French, so you might encounter either form in written texts.
Why do we say un bon prix instead of une bonne prix?
The noun prix is masculine in French, so it takes the masculine indefinite article un and requires the masculine form of the adjective, which is bon. Even though “price” in English doesn’t indicate gender, every French noun has a grammatical gender that must be matched by its articles and adjectives.
Why is the adjective bon placed before prix while rouge comes after voiture?
In French, the position of adjectives depends on their meaning and customary usage. Some adjectives like bon (good) usually come before the noun to express a subjective quality or evaluative judgment, as in un bon prix. On the other hand, most descriptive adjectives, such as rouge (red), follow the noun, which is why we say la voiture rouge.
What is the function of pour in this sentence?
The word pour translates to “for” in English and is used here to indicate the purpose or the relation between the two parts of the sentence. It shows that Paul is paying a good price specifically in exchange for the red car.
Why is the definite article la used in la voiture rouge?
The definite article la is used to specify a particular, identifiable car. It implies that the listener or reader knows which red car is meant, rather than referring to any red car in general.