Breakdown of Préviens-moi dès que tu arrives; je veux te prévenir si l’avion est en retard.
je
I
être
to be
tu
you
vouloir
to want
si
if
te
you
en retard
late
me
me
arriver
to arrive
l'avion
the plane
prévenir
to let know
dès que
as soon as
prévenir
to warn
Questions & Answers about Préviens-moi dès que tu arrives; je veux te prévenir si l’avion est en retard.
Why is it Préviens-moi and not Préviens me or Préviens à moi?
- In affirmative imperatives, object pronouns attach to the verb with a hyphen: Préviens-moi.
- The form is the stressed pronoun moi (not me) after an affirmative imperative.
- Prévenir takes a direct object (someone), so no preposition: prévenir quelqu’un, not prévenir à quelqu’un.
- Negative imperative goes back to normal order and unstressed forms: Ne me préviens pas.
Why is there an -s in Préviens? I thought the tu-imperative drops the -s.
Why is it dès que tu arrives and not dès que tu arriveras?
- With time conjunctions such as dès que, French often uses the present for instructions or general procedures: Dès que tu arrives, appelle-moi.
- For a specific future time, you can use the future: Dès que tu arriveras, je t’appellerai.
- To stress completion before the next action, use the future perfect: Dès que tu seras arrivé, je t’appellerai.
- In a command like this, the present after dès que is the most natural.
Should it be the subjunctive after dès que?
No. Dès que, quand, lorsque, aussitôt que take the indicative (present/future/future perfect, etc.), not the subjunctive. So dès que tu arrives is correct.
Why is it si l’avion est en retard and not si l’avion sera en retard?
Is prévenir a false friend of “to prevent”?
- Most commonly, prévenir means “to warn” or “to let someone know.”
- To say “prevent” in general, use empêcher: empêcher quelqu’un de faire X; empêcher un accident.
- Note: prévenir can mean “to prevent” in set phrases or formal contexts (e.g., prévenir une maladie), but with people it’s usually “to inform/warn.”
Is je veux te prévenir si… idiomatic, or should it be je te préviendrai si…?
Why is the pronoun before the infinitive in je veux te prévenir?
- With a conjugated verb + infinitive, object pronouns go before the infinitive when they’re the object of that infinitive: Je veux te prévenir.
- Je te veux prévenir is incorrect in this meaning, because te would be tied to veux. (Separately, Je te veux means “I want you,” a different structure.)
- With a single conjugated verb, the pronoun goes before it: Je te préviendrai.
How do I conjugate prévenir in the forms relevant here?
- Present: je préviens, tu préviens, il/elle prévient, nous prévenons, vous prévenez, ils/elles préviennent.
- Imperative: Préviens, Prévenons, Prévenez; negative: Ne me préviens pas.
- Future: je préviendrai, tu préviendras, il/elle préviendra, etc.
- Past participle: prévenu (e.g., j’ai prévenu).
What complements can follow prévenir? When do I use de, que, or si?
Why is there a hyphen in Préviens-moi but not in je veux te prévenir?
Could I use aussitôt que or une fois que instead of dès que?
Why en retard and not tard?
Is the semicolon appropriate here? Any spacing rules in French?
How would this look with formal/polite vous?
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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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