Learn Hardcore French: Marie choisit un pantalon noir parce qu'elle le trouve élégant. - Marie chooses black pants because she finds them elegant.

choisit is the third-person singular of choisir in the present indicative (Marie chooses). Although the passé simple of choisir is also spelled choisit, the presence of trouve (also in the present) makes it clear we’re talking about present-tense narration.

Why do I see parce qu’elle with an apostrophe? Shouldn’t it be parce que elle?

In French you drop (elide) the final e of que before a word that begins with a vowel or a mute h. To avoid the “ee e” clash you write parce que + elle as parce qu’elle, using the apostrophe to show the missing e.

What does the pronoun le refer to in elle le trouve élégant? And why is it needed?

The pronoun le replaces un pantalon noir (masculine singular) to avoid repeating the noun. Grammatically you could say elle trouve le pantalon élégant, but using le is more natural: elle le trouve élégant = “she finds it elegant.”

Why is the object pronoun le placed before the verb trouve instead of after?

In simple tenses (present, passé composé, etc.), French direct object pronouns come before the conjugated verb. Hence elle le trouve. The only time you put it after is in the affirmative imperative (e.g. trouve-le !).

Why is noir not noire?

Noir agrees with pantalon, which is a masculine singular noun. The feminine form would be noire, but since pantalon is masculine, the color adjective remains noir.

Similarly, why is élégant not élégante?

The same agreement rule applies: élégant modifies pantalon (masculine singular), so you use the masculine form élégant rather than élégante.

Why is the color adjective noir placed after pantalon? In English, we say “black pants,” with the color before the noun.

Most French adjectives, especially colors, typically follow the noun: un pantalon noir. Only a small set of adjectives (Beauty, Age, Goodness, Size) usually come before the noun; colors are not in that group.

Could I use car instead of parce que here? What’s the difference?

Yes: Marie choisit un pantalon noir, car elle le trouve élégant is correct. Car is a bit more formal or literary, while parce que is more common in everyday speech and can be shortened to parce qu’ before a vowel.

Is it necessary to repeat elle in parce qu’elle? Could I drop the subject pronoun there?

No, you cannot drop the subject pronoun in French. Every finite verb must have an explicit subject (noun or pronoun). So you need elle in the subordinate clause: parce qu’elle.

Why isn’t lui used as the pronoun instead of le?

Lui is an indirect object pronoun used with verbs that take à before their object. Trouver takes a direct object (you find something), so you use the direct object pronoun le (for masculine singular), not lui.