Breakdown of L'ami d'enfance de Marie vient au dîner.
Questions & Answers about L'ami d'enfance de Marie vient au dîner.
In French, when le or la (the singular definite articles) comes before a word that starts with a vowel sound (including h muet), it contracts to l' to make pronunciation smoother.
- le ami → becomes l'ami
- Pronunciation: [la-mi], not [lǝ a-mi]
So L'ami d'enfance de Marie means Marie’s childhood friend (male friend).
d'enfance literally means of childhood.
- de = of
- Before a vowel sound, de contracts to d', so de enfance → d'enfance.
The whole phrase l'ami d'enfance is a set expression that means childhood friend (a friend from childhood).
de is used to show possession or a relationship: X de Y = Y’s X.
- l'ami de Marie = Marie’s friend
- l'ami d'enfance de Marie = Marie’s childhood friend
à would indicate something else (often direction, location, or who something is for), not possession.
So l’ami à Marie is incorrect for Marie’s friend.
Yes, you could say:
- Le copain d'enfance de Marie vient au dîner.
Differences:
- ami = friend (neutral, can sound slightly more formal or stronger bond in some contexts)
- copain / copine = friend, mate, buddy; also can mean boyfriend / girlfriend depending on context
In a neutral context about a guest at dinner, ami is clear and slightly more neutral. copain d'enfance is very common in speech, though.
French does not use the English ’s structure.
- English: Marie’s childhood friend
- French: L'ami d'enfance de Marie
Structure: the friend of childhood of Marie (literally).
French keeps de + noun instead of using an apostrophe.
In this sentence:
- vient = comes / is coming (from the verb venir).
- arriver = to arrive.
Both can be used in many situations, but here French naturally prefers venir when emphasizing the movement towards where the speaker is or towards the event:
- L'ami d'enfance de Marie vient au dîner.
Marie’s childhood friend is coming to the dinner.
Using arriver would focus more on the moment of arrival, and you’d normally add a time:
- L’ami d’enfance de Marie arrive à 20h.
Marie’s childhood friend arrives at 8 p.m.
à + le contracts to au:
- à le dîner → au dîner
This contraction is mandatory in standard French.
So you must say:
- vient au dîner = is coming to the dinner
Here, dîner is a noun:
- le dîner = the dinner (the meal / the event)
The verb dîner means to have dinner:
- Nous dînons à huit heures. = We have dinner at eight o’clock.
In vient au dîner, au (à + le) clearly marks dîner as a noun (a specific dinner event).
The circumflex in dîner (î) mostly signals historical spelling and pronunciation changes. Historically there was often an s after the vowel (like desjeûner, disner, etc.).
Today:
- dîner is pronounced like dee-né in standard French.
- The î does not change the sound compared to a simple i in this word; it’s more about spelling tradition.
You just need to remember the spelling with î for the noun and the verb dîner.
Yes, vient is the présent de l’indicatif (present indicative).
French present tense covers both English simple present and present continuous:
- L'ami d'enfance de Marie vient au dîner.
- Marie’s childhood friend comes to the dinner.
- Marie’s childhood friend is coming to the dinner.
Context decides which English translation fits best. There is no separate continuous form in French like is coming.
Pronunciation in IPA (approximate):
- L'ami d'enfance de Marie → [la.mi dɑ̃.fɑ̃s də ma.ʁi]
Key points:
- L'ami: sounds like la-mi.
- d'enfance: den- with a nasal ɑ̃ (like an in French), then -fance.
- de often reduces to a very short də sound.
- No required liaison between ami and d'enfance, or enfance and de here.
Yes, ami is masculine:
- L'ami d'enfance de Marie = Marie’s (male) childhood friend.
For a female friend, you use amie (with e):
- L'amie d'enfance de Marie vient au dîner.
- amie = female friend
The article stays L' because both ami and amie start with a vowel. Only the written form shows the gender here.