Breakdown of Je ferme le rideau bleu avant de regarder l'écran.
je
I
avant
before
de
of
fermer
to close
bleu
blue
le rideau
the curtain
regarder
to look at
l'écran
the screen
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Questions & Answers about Je ferme le rideau bleu avant de regarder l'écran.
Why is the adjective bleu placed after rideau rather than before it?
In French, most descriptive adjectives follow the noun they modify. Bleu is a standard color adjective and thus comes after rideau (the noun). Only certain short or very common adjectives (like beau, petit, grand) can sometimes appear before the noun.
Why do we say avant de regarder instead of avant regarder?
When you use avant with a verb, you must insert de before the infinitive: avant de + infinitive. Omitting de would be ungrammatical. This structure expresses “before doing something.”
What’s the difference between l’écran and le écran?
French avoids having two vowel sounds back to back. So le + écran becomes l’écran (the “e” is dropped and an apostrophe is added). This contraction helps you pronounce the phrase smoothly.
Why is the present tense je ferme used here instead of a past tense like j’ai fermé or a future tense like je fermerai?
The sentence describes an action happening right now or as a general habit: “I close the blue curtain before watching the screen.”
- Je ferme = present tense (“I close”)
- J’ai fermé = passé composé (past: “I have closed” or “I closed”)
- Je fermerai = futur simple (future: “I will close”)
Why is there no preposition between ferme and le rideau bleu?
Fermer is a transitive verb that directly takes an object. You simply say fermer quelque chose (“to close something”). No preposition is needed between the verb and its direct object.
Could I use avant que + a conjugated verb here instead of avant de + infinitive?
Yes, you can say avant que + subjunctive, but it slightly changes the style and requires a different verb form:
- Infinitive form: avant de regarder
- infinitive (neutral, common)
- Subordinate clause: avant que je regarde
- subjunctive (avant que je regarde l’écran).
The subjunctive version is correct but more formal or literary.
- subjunctive (avant que je regarde l’écran).