Breakdown of Nous achetons deux paires de chaussettes, et nous les mettons immédiatement.
et
and
nous
we
acheter
to buy
de
of
immédiatement
immediately
les
them
deux
two
la paire
the pair
la chaussette
the sock
mettre
to put on
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Questions & Answers about Nous achetons deux paires de chaussettes, et nous les mettons immédiatement.
Why do we say deux paires de chaussettes and not deux paires des chaussettes?
In French, after an expression of quantity (deux, trois, beaucoup, etc.), you use de + noun, not the partitive des. Additionally, paire de is a fixed construction meaning “pair of.” So you always say deux paires de chaussettes (“two pairs of socks”).
What does les refer to, and why is it placed before mettons?
Les is the direct object pronoun replacing les chaussettes (plural). In French indicative sentences, object pronouns (me, te, le/la, nous, vous, les) go immediately before the conjugated verb. Hence nous les mettons means “we put them on.”
Why is mettre used here instead of porter?
Mettre means “to put on” (the action of donning clothing or accessories). Porter means “to wear” (to have clothing on). Since the sentence describes the action of putting socks on right after buying them, mettre is the right choice.
Can we omit the second nous, and could we use on instead for “we”?
Yes. When both verbs share the same subject, you can drop the repeated pronoun:
Nous achetons deux paires de chaussettes et les mettons immédiatement.
Informally, many speakers also replace nous with on:
On achète deux paires de chaussettes et on les met tout de suite.
Why is immédiatement spelled with an accent on é and two m’s, and is there another way to say “immediately”?
The adjective immédiat has an accent on the é and double m, and when you add -ment to form the adverb, you keep both: immédiatement. You can also say tout de suite (colloquial) or sur-le-champ (more formal/literary) to express “immediately.”
Is the comma before et necessary, and what effect does it have?
In French, a comma before et is optional. It can signal a slight pause or improve readability in longer sentences, but Nous achetons deux paires de chaussettes et nous les mettons immédiatement without a comma is equally correct.