Le coffre contient un trésor.

The chest contains a treasure.

Breakdown of Le coffre contient un trésor.

• une: a
• le trésor: the treasure
• le coffre: the chest
• contenir: to contain

Questions & Answers about Le coffre contient un trésor.

What does coffre mean in this sentence?

coffre means “chest” or “trunk.” It’s a masculine noun referring to a sturdy box or container, often made of wood or metal.

Why is the definite article le used before coffre?

Le is the masculine singular definite article in French (equivalent to “the” in English). It signals that you’re talking about a specific, identifiable chest.

Why is the indefinite article un used before trésor?

Un is the masculine singular indefinite article (“a” or “an” in English). It introduces trésor as one unspecified treasure, not a particular one previously known to the listener.

Could you use du trésor instead of un trésor?

No—du is the partitive article (meaning “some”) and is used with uncountable or mass nouns (e.g. du pain = “some bread”). Trésor here is countable (one whole treasure), so you need un trésor. Saying du trésor would be unnatural unless you’re referring to an unspecified portion of treasure (e.g. gold pieces).

Why is the verb contient used rather than a (from avoir)?

French uses contenir specifically to express that one thing holds or contains another. While avoir can mean “to have,” it’s more general. Le coffre contient un trésor literally means “The chest contains a treasure,” which is more precise than Le coffre a un trésor (“The chest has a treasure”), though the latter isn’t grammatically wrong.

How do you conjugate contenir to get contient?

Contenir is irregular. Its present tense for third-person singular is il/elle contient. Full present tense: je contiens, tu contiens, il/elle contient, nous contenons, vous contenez, ils/elles contiennent.

What’s the standard word order in this sentence? Could I say Un trésor contient le coffre?

French main clauses follow Subject–Verb–Object (SVO). Here the subject is Le coffre, the verb is contient, and the object is un trésor. Swapping them to Un trésor contient le coffre would mean “A treasure contains the chest,” which changes the meaning entirely and doesn’t match the intended idea.

How does Le coffre contient un trésor compare to Il y a un trésor dans le coffre?

Both express that a treasure is inside a chest.

• Le coffre contient un trésor emphasizes the chest’s role in containing something and sounds a bit more formal or literary.
• Il y a un trésor dans le coffre literally “There is a treasure in the chest” is very common in everyday spoken French and focuses on the existence of the treasure rather than the container’s action.

Can trésor be plural, and how would that affect the sentence?

Yes. The plural of trésor is trésors. You’d use the plural indefinite article des, yielding Le coffre contient des trésors (“The chest contains some treasures” or “The chest contains treasures”).