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Le chien court vers la porte.

Le chien court vers la porte.
The dog runs toward the door.
FromLesson 16inHardcore French

Breakdown of Le chien court vers la porte.

le chien
the dog
courir
to run
la porte
the door
vers
toward

Questions & Answers about Le chien court vers la porte.

What does the article le indicate in this sentence?
Le is the masculine singular definite article. Since chien (dog) is a masculine noun in French, le is used to mean “the.”
What does the verb court mean, and why is it used in this form?
Court is the third person singular present tense form of the irregular verb courir, which means “to run.” It is used here because the subject le chien is singular.
How is the preposition vers used in this sentence, and what is its meaning?
Vers means “toward” or “in the direction of.” It functions as a directional preposition, indicating where the dog is running, namely, toward the door.
Why is it la porte instead of le porte?
La is the feminine singular definite article, which is used here because porte (door) is a feminine noun in French.
Is the structure of this French sentence similar to an English sentence?
Yes, the structure is quite similar. The French sentence follows a Subject-Verb-Prepositional Phrase order—le chien (subject), court (verb), vers la porte (prepositional phrase)—which corresponds closely to the English “The dog runs toward the door.”
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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