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Tu veux un bonbon?

Tu veux un bonbon?
Do you want a candy?
FromLesson 20inHardcore French

Breakdown of Tu veux un bonbon?

tu
you
vouloir
to want
le bonbon
the candy

Questions & Answers about Tu veux un bonbon?

Why is tu veux used here instead of vous voulez?
In French, tu is the informal singular form of “you,” used with friends, family, children, or people you know well. Vous is either the formal singular or the plural “you.” Since the speaker is asking one person in an informal context, tu veux is appropriate.
Why isn’t there an est-ce que or inversion to form the question?
This sentence uses everyday spoken French, where you can simply raise your intonation at the end to signal a question. Formally, you could say Est-ce que tu veux un bonbon? or Veux-tu un bonbon?, but in casual speech Tu veux un bonbon? is completely natural.
How is tu veux conjugated? Why does veux end with -x?

Veux is the second-person singular present tense of the irregular verb vouloir (to want). The present-tense endings for vouloir with tu is -x:
je veux
tu veux
il/elle veut
nous voulons
vous voulez
ils/elles veulent

Why is it un bonbon and not du bonbon?
Bonbon (candy) is a countable noun here. When offering a single, countable item, you use the indefinite article un (masculine) or une (feminine). Du is the partitive article used for an unspecified amount of an uncountable substance (e.g., du pain, some bread). Since you’re offering one candy, you say un bonbon.
What gender is bonbon, and how do I know?
Bonbon is masculine, so it takes un. In general, French nouns ending in -on are often masculine (though there are exceptions). It’s best to learn the article together with the noun: le bonbon (the candy), un bonbon (a candy).
How would I pronounce Tu veux un bonbon? smoothly?

You’d say it roughly as [ty vø ɛ̃ bɔ̃bɔ̃], linking the words:

  • tu veux [ty vø] (the -u of tu almost blends into veux)
  • un [ɛ̃] nasal
  • bonbon [bɔ̃bɔ̃] with both syllables nasalized.
    In casual speech, it often sounds like [ty vɛ̃ bɔ̃bɔ̃] with slight vowel changes.
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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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