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Mon fer à repasser ne fonctionne plus, il est trop vieux.

Mon fer à repasser ne fonctionne plus, il est trop vieux.
My iron no longer works; it is too old.
FromLesson 15inHardcore French

Breakdown of Mon fer à repasser ne fonctionne plus, il est trop vieux.

être
to be
mon
my
il
he
fonctionner
to function
trop
too
vieux
old
ne ... plus
no longer
le fer à repasser
the iron

Questions & Answers about Mon fer à repasser ne fonctionne plus, il est trop vieux.

Why is the masculine possessive mon used with fer à repasser even though "iron" might seem neutral in English?
In French every noun has a grammatical gender. The word fer (iron) is masculine, so we use mon (my) instead of a feminine form like ma.
What does the construction ne fonctionne plus mean, and how is it used?
Ne fonctionne plus means "doesn't work anymore" or "no longer functions." The structure ne ... plus is the standard way in French to negate a verb to indicate that something is no longer happening.
How does the pronoun il in il est trop vieux connect to the rest of the sentence?
The pronoun il directly refers back to mon fer à repasser. Since fer is a masculine noun, we use il to avoid repeating the noun in the second clause.
What is the role of trop vieux in this sentence?
Trop vieux means "too old." It explains why the iron is no longer functioning—the iron's age is excessive, making it unfit or malfunctioning. The adjective follows the verb est (is), following typical French sentence structure.
Could this sentence be restructured to combine the ideas differently, and if so, how?
Yes, you can combine the ideas into one sentence by using a causal connector. For example, you could say: "Mon fer à repasser ne fonctionne plus parce qu'il est trop vieux." This version explicitly connects the malfunction to the cause (being too old).
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.).

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