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Mon accent est encore fort, mais mes amis me comprennent.

Mon accent est encore fort, mais mes amis me comprennent.
My accent is still strong, but my friends understand me.
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Questions & Answers about Mon accent est encore fort, mais mes amis me comprennent.

Why is it mon accent and not ma accent?

In French, every noun has a grammatical gender. Accent is a masculine noun (un accent), so it always takes masculine determiners and adjectives:

  • mon accent
  • un accent
  • cet accent
  • ton accent

If it were a feminine noun (for example la voix – “voice”), you would say ma voix, une voix, etc. The choice of mon vs ma depends on the noun, not on who is speaking.

What exactly does encore mean here? Is it “still” or “again”?

In this sentence, encore means still:

  • Mon accent est encore fort → My accent is still strong.

Encore can also mean again, but context tells you which meaning is intended. With être (to be) and an adjective describing a continuing state, it usually means still:

  • Il est encore malade. → He is still sick.
  • Tu es encore en retard. → You are late again. (Here both “still” and “again” can be possible, depending on context.)

In your sentence, the idea is that the strong accent has not disappeared yet, so encore = still.

Could you say toujours instead of encore here?

You could say Mon accent est toujours fort, but there is a nuance:

  • encore often suggests “not yet gone / not yet changed” – it focuses on the fact that the situation is continuing when maybe you hoped it would end.
  • toujours is more neutral: “always / still (as usual)”.

So:

  • Mon accent est encore fort → I had hoped it would improve, but it’s still strong.
  • Mon accent est toujours fort → It is always strong / It’s still strong, as usual.

Both are correct; encore is often the more natural choice in this “I’m progressing but it’s not perfect yet” kind of sentence.

Why is it fort and not forte?

Adjectives in French agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.

  • accent is masculine singular → the adjective must be masculine singular: fort.
  • If the noun were feminine singular, you’d use forte:
    • une voix forte (a loud/strong voice)

Some masculine nouns end in -e, but accent doesn’t; it’s simply masculine, so the adjective stays in the masculine form fort.

Does fort here mean “loud” or “strongly accented”? Could you use another word?

In this context, fort means strong / pronounced, referring to how noticeable your foreign accent is.

You could also say:

  • Mon accent est encore très marqué. (my accent is still very marked)
  • Mon accent est encore très prononcé.

Fort is a very common, simple word; marqué and prononcé sound a bit more precise/formal.

Why is the word order mes amis me comprennent and not mes amis comprennent me?

In French, object pronouns usually go before the conjugated verb:

  • me comprennent (they understand me)
  • te comprennent (they understand you)
  • le comprennent (they understand him/it)
  • la comprennent (they understand her/it)
  • nous comprennent (they understand us)
  • vous comprennent (they understand you)
  • les comprennent (they understand them)

You cannot say comprennent moi in standard French. The pronoun moi is used in other structures, for example:

  • Ils comprennent moi, pas lui. (with emphasis on me)
  • Ils me comprennent. (neutral: they understand me)
Why is it comprennent with -ent at the end, and how is it pronounced?

Comprennent is the third person plural (they) form of comprendre in the present tense:

  • je comprends
  • tu comprends
  • il/elle/on comprend
  • nous comprenons
  • vous comprenez
  • ils/elles comprennent

The spelling -ent marks the plural, but in speech that ending is silent. So:

  • ils comprennent is pronounced like il comprend (same sound), but the subject (ils vs il) tells you whether it’s singular or plural.

So mes amis me comprennent is pronounced as if it were mes amis me comprend, but the grammar requires the plural form in writing because mes amis is plural.

Why is it mais here and not something like “although”?

Mais means but, and it introduces a contrast:

  • Mon accent est encore fort, mais mes amis me comprennent.
    • My accent is still strong, but my friends understand me.

If you want “although / even though”, the most common equivalent here would be:

  • Même si mon accent est encore fort, mes amis me comprennent.

Both are correct, but they change the structure:

  • mais links two clauses of equal weight.
  • même si introduces a subordinate clause, like although.

Your original sentence is the simpler, more conversational option.

Why mes amis and not les amis or des amis?

Each choice has a different meaning:

  • mes amis → my friends (the speaker’s friends specifically)
  • les amis → the friends (friends in general, or some previously identified group of friends)
  • des amis → (some) friends (an unspecified group of friends)

In this sentence, you are talking about your own friends, so mes amis is the natural choice.

How should this sentence be pronounced? Are there any liaisons?

Key points:

  • Mon accent → mon aksɑ̃
    • accent: the c is pronounced like k, the final t is silent.
  • est encore → ɛ tɑ̃kɔʀ
    • You often hear a little linking t sound between est and encore in careful speech: ɛ-tɑ̃kɔʀ.
  • fort → fɔʀ in many accents; the final t is silent.
  • mais → mɛ (final s silent).
  • mes amis → mezami
    • There is a liaison: mes
      • amis → you hear a z sound: mé-zami.
  • me → mə (like a weak “muh”).
  • comprennent → kɔ̃prɛn
    • The -ent is silent; it sounds like comprenne.

So a slow, clear version would sound like:

Mon accent est encore fort, mais mes amis me comprennent.
→ Mon aksɑ̃ nɛ tɑ̃kɔʀ fɔʀ, mɛ mezami mə kɔ̃prɛn.