Je branche l’imprimante avant de l’utiliser.

I plug in the printer before using it.

Breakdown of Je branche l’imprimante avant de l’utiliser.

• je: I
• avant: before
• de: of
• brancher: to plug in

Questions & Answers about Je branche l’imprimante avant de l’utiliser.

What does brancher mean in this sentence? Does it mean “to branch”?

In French, brancher means “to plug in” or “to connect (to a power source).” It’s not related to the English word “branch”; think of plugging an appliance into the wall.

Why is there l’ before imprimante? Why isn’t it la imprimante?

In French, the feminine article la becomes l’ before a noun that starts with a vowel or a mute h. Since imprimante starts with i, la contracts to l’: l’imprimante.

Why do we have avant de l’utiliser instead of just avant utiliser?

After avant, when you want to use a verb, you must insert de before the infinitive. So the correct structure is avant de + [infinitive]. Saying avant utiliser without de would be ungrammatical.

What does the l’ in avant de l’utiliser refer to?

That l’ is a direct-object pronoun replacing l’imprimante. It means “it” (the printer). So literally: “I plug in the printer before using it.”