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Il saute haut, et nous le regardons avec surprise.

Il saute haut, et nous le regardons avec surprise.
It jumps high, and we watch it with surprise.
FromLesson 20inHardcore French

Breakdown of Il saute haut, et nous le regardons avec surprise.

et
and
avec
with
nous
we
il
it
regarder
to watch
le
it
haut
high
sauter
to jump
la surprise
the surprise

Questions & Answers about Il saute haut, et nous le regardons avec surprise.

Why is the verb in the form saute and not sauter?
We use sauter as the infinitive (“to jump”). When conjugating for il (he) in the present indicative, -er verbs take the ending -e, so il saute means “he jumps.”
Is haut here an adjective or an adverb?
Haut is an adverb modifying saute (“jumps”). In French, some adjectives function as adverbs without changing form, and here haut means “highly” or “high” in the sense of jumping height.
Why is haut placed after saute and not before it?
In French, most adverbs follow the verb they modify. So the standard order is verb + adverb, giving il saute haut.
Why is there a le before regardons, and what does it refer to?
Le is a direct-object pronoun meaning “him,” referring back to il. In simple tenses, French places object pronouns before the verb. Hence nous le regardons = “we watch him.”
Why don’t we use lui instead of le?
Regarder takes a direct object, so you use le (masculine direct-object pronoun). Lui is an indirect-object pronoun (for verbs like parler à or donner à) and would be incorrect here.
Why is there a comma before et?
French may insert a comma before et when joining two independent clauses to signal a pause or clarity. It’s optional but common when each clause could stand alone.
Why do we say avec surprise instead of using an adverb?
French often expresses manner with avec + noun. There’s no standard adverb surprisemment, so avec surprise (“with surprise”) is the natural way to convey how we watch him.
Can we move le to the end, as in nous regardons avec surprise le?
No. In French, object pronouns precede the verb in all tenses except affirmative imperatives. The only time you place it after is in commands: Regarde-le !
Why is the present tense used here instead of a past or future tense?
The present tense in French can describe actions happening right now or general truths. This sentence describes what is currently happening: “He jumps high, and we watch him with surprise.”
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“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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