Questions & Answers about Je colle la photo sur le mur.
Both are grammatically possible, but they don’t mean the same thing.
- la photo = the photo (a specific photo, already known in the situation or mentioned before)
- Je colle la photo sur le mur. → I’m sticking *the photo on the wall.*
- une photo = a photo (non‑specific, just any photo)
- Je colle une photo sur le mur. → I’m sticking *a photo on the wall.*
French almost always needs an article in front of a singular countable noun, so you cannot say Je colle photo sur le mur. You must choose la, une, sa, ma, etc.
In French, singular countable nouns almost always need an article (definite, indefinite, or possessive). So:
- le mur = the wall
- un mur = a wall
- mon mur = my wall
You cannot normally drop the article the way English sometimes does (e.g. English: on wall in instructions; French still: sur le mur).
Here, le mur suggests a specific wall that is understood from context (the wall of the room you’re in, for example).
sur is the usual preposition for on (the surface of):
- sur le mur = on the wall, touching its surface.
You might also hear:
au mur = to/on the wall, where au = à + le.
coller quelque chose au mur is common and very idiomatic; it means essentially the same as sur le mur in many contexts.dans le mur = in the wall, which would mean inside the wall, not what you want for a photo.
So for sticking something onto the surface of a wall:
- sur le mur or au mur are both natural; dans le mur would be wrong here.
coller can mean:
- to glue / to paste (with actual glue, tape, paste, adhesive, etc.)
- to stick (in the sense of fastening something to a surface)
In this sentence, Je colle la photo sur le mur most naturally means I’m gluing/sticking the photo onto the wall (probably with tape, glue, Blu‑Tack, etc.).
The everyday English translation is usually to stick (a photo, a poster) on the wall, but to glue is also possible depending on context.
It can mean both. French simple present covers several English uses:
- current action (present progressive):
- Je colle la photo sur le mur. → I am sticking the photo on the wall (right now).
- general/habitual action:
- Je colle la photo sur le mur tous les ans. → I stick the photo on the wall every year.
Context (time expressions, situation) tells you whether it’s a one‑off action happening now or a general habit. There is no separate form like English -ing.
You can, but it sounds marked or stylized in ordinary speech.
- Neutral, most natural:
- Je colle la photo sur le mur.
- Possible, but feels a bit literary, emphatic, or unusual:
- Je colle sur le mur la photo.
French tends to keep the direct object (la photo) directly after the verb in normal statements. Moving la photo to the end is allowed mainly for emphasis or style, not for everyday neutral speech.
Only in certain cases.
- Je colle la photo sur le mur. = a statement; you must say Je.
- Colle la photo sur le mur. = an imperative (a command): Stick the photo on the wall.
French almost never drops subject pronouns in normal statements; it’s not like Spanish or Italian. So:
- Statement → Je colle la photo sur le mur.
- Order/command → Colle la photo sur le mur. (no je, verb in imperative form)
You use a direct object pronoun, placed before the verb:
- Je colle la photo sur le mur.
→ Je la colle sur le mur. (I’m sticking it on the wall.)
Key points:
- la replaces a feminine singular direct object (la photo).
- The pronoun goes before the conjugated verb (la colle, not colle la in a statement).
- The prepositional phrase sur le mur stays in place at the end.
Grammatical gender in French is largely arbitrary and must be memorized:
- la photo (from la photographie) is feminine.
- le mur is masculine.
There is no simple general rule that would let you predict these genders from the meanings alone. What you can do is always learn new nouns with their articles:
- la photo
- le mur
- une maison, un arbre, etc.
Over time, patterns and endings help (e.g. many nouns ending in ‑tion are feminine), but photo and mur just have to be learned individually.
Approximate pronunciation (IPA and rough English guide):
- Je → /ʒə/ (like the s in measure
- a weak uh)
- colle → /kɔl/ (kol; like collar without the final ar)
- la → /la/ (like la in la‑la‑la)
- photo → /fɔ.to/ (foh‑toh; both o sounds are more open than in English)
- sur → /syʁ/ (syur; u like in tu /ty/, rounded lips)
- le → /lə/ (weak luh)
- mur → /myʁ/ (myur; u is the same rounded vowel as in sur)
No liaison is required between colle and la, or photo and sur. The rhythm is fairly even:
/ʒə kɔl la fɔ.to syʁ lə myʁ/
Yes, there’s a nuance:
- sur le mur = on the surface of the wall, as a normal way of hanging or sticking something (photo, poster).
- contre le mur = against the wall, emphasizing contact/pressure against it.
With coller:
- coller la photo sur le mur → focus on fastening it on the surface.
- coller la photo contre le mur → also understandable, but the usual collocation for photos/posters is sur or au; contre is more often used with objects/persons pressed up against the wall (e.g. Je colle la table contre le mur.).
Use passé composé with avoir:
- J’ai collé la photo sur le mur.
→ I stuck the photo on the wall / I have stuck the photo on the wall.
Structure:
- je → j’ (before a vowel)
- ai (present of avoir)
- collé (past participle of coller)
- then the rest: la photo sur le mur
So:
- Present: Je colle la photo sur le mur.
- Past: J’ai collé la photo sur le mur.