Breakdown of Quand nous serons à Paris, nous irons au théâtre parce que l’acteur y joue ce soir.
être
to be
nous
we
le soir
the evening
parce que
because
aller
to go
à
to
ce
this
quand
when
à
in
y
there
Paris
Paris
jouer
to play
le théâtre
the theater
l’acteur
the actor
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Questions & Answers about Quand nous serons à Paris, nous irons au théâtre parce que l’acteur y joue ce soir.
Why is serons (and irons) used here instead of the present tense? What tense is this?
Serons and irons are both in the simple future tense (futur simple) in French. When you describe an event that will happen, especially after a time conjunction like quand (when), French requires the futur simple. That’s why you see Quand nous serons à Paris… and nous irons au théâtre…, rather than the present tense.
Why do we write au théâtre instead of à le théâtre?
In French, à + le always contracts to au. You cannot say à le; you must say au. (Similarly, de + le becomes du.)
What does the pronoun y stand for in the sentence?
The pronoun y replaces a location introduced by à. In this sentence, y refers back to au théâtre (“there”). So l’acteur y joue means “the actor is playing there.”
Why is y placed before the verb joue instead of after it?
French clitic pronouns (like y, en, le, etc.) always come immediately before a conjugated verb (or before an infinitive if there is one). That’s why you say y joue, never joue y.
Why is there an apostrophe in l’acteur?
When le (or la) precedes a noun starting with a vowel or a mute h, it contracts to l’ to make pronunciation smoother. Thus l’acteur instead of le acteur.
Could I use lorsque instead of quand here?
Yes. Lorsque also means “when,” but it’s a bit more formal or literary. Lorsque nous serons à Paris… is perfectly correct and slightly more elevated in tone.
In English you can sometimes drop the subject (“When in Paris, we’ll go…”). Can you omit nous before irons in French?
No. French requires an explicit subject pronoun with every conjugated verb. You must say Quand nous serons… nous irons…. You cannot omit nous before irons.
Can I use on instead of nous here?
In informal spoken French, yes. You could say Quand on sera à Paris, on ira au théâtre…, and on would take the verb in 3rd-person singular. But in formal or written French, nous + 1st-person plural verbs (serons, irons) is preferred.