Learn Hardcore French: J'aime la salade verte, mais Marie choisit souvent des tomates jaunes. - I like green salad, but Marie often chooses yellow tomatoes.

J'aime la salade verte, mais Marie choisit souvent des tomates jaunes.

I like green salad, but Marie often chooses yellow tomatoes.

Breakdown of J'aime la salade verte, mais Marie choisit souvent des tomates jaunes.

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Questions & Answers about J'aime la salade verte, mais Marie choisit souvent des tomates jaunes.

Why is it J'aime and not Je aime?

In French, when je comes before a word that starts with a vowel sound (like aime), it usually drops its e and takes an apostrophe: j'.

This is called elision and it makes the sentence smoother to pronounce. So:

❌ Je aime
✅ J'aime

The same thing happens with other small words, for example:

je → j' (j’habite, j’écoute)
le → l' (l’homme, l’école)
la → l' (l’amie)
que → qu' (qu’elle)
ne → n' (n’arrive pas)

Why is it la salade verte but des tomates jaunes? What’s the difference between la and des?

la is the definite article (feminine singular), and des is the indefinite plural article.

J'aime la salade verte
→ Here la (the) is used in a general sense: “I like green salad (as a type of food in general).”
With verbs of liking/disliking (aimer, adorer, détester, préférer), French normally uses le / la / les.
Marie choisit souvent des tomates jaunes
→ des means “some” and refers to some individual tomatoes on specific occasions: “Marie often chooses some yellow tomatoes.”

So:

General preference: J'aime la salade.
Choosing some items: Elle achète des tomates.

Why can’t I just say J'aime salade verte like in English “I like salad”?

In French, you almost always need an article before a noun. You can’t normally leave the noun “bare” the way English does.

So you must say:

✅ J'aime la salade verte.
❌ J'aime salade verte.

The article (le, la, les, un, une, des) is part of how French “packages” nouns in a sentence. Common exceptions (no article) are things like:

Professions after être: Il est médecin.
Some fixed expressions: avoir faim, avoir raison, faire peur, etc.

But with aimer + noun, you need the article.

Why are the adjectives after the nouns: salade verte, tomates jaunes, and not before like in English “green salad”?

In French, most adjectives come after the noun:

une salade verte = a green salad
des tomates jaunes = yellow tomatoes

However, some frequent adjectives usually come before the noun, often remembered with the acronym BAGS (Beauty, Age, Goodness, Size):

une belle maison (beautiful house)
un vieux chien (old dog)
un bon film (good film)
un grand appartement (big apartment)

Colors like vert, jaune, rouge, etc., normally go after the noun:

une voiture rouge
un pull bleu
des yeux marron

Why does verte end with -e and jaunes with -es?

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

salade is feminine singular → the adjective vert becomes verte
- Masculine singular: vert
- Feminine singular: verte
tomates is feminine plural → the adjective jaune becomes jaunes
- Singular (m/f): jaune
- Plural (m/f): jaunes

So:

une salade verte (fem. sg.)
des salades vertes (fem. pl.)
une tomate jaune (fem. sg.)
des tomates jaunes (fem. pl.)

The endings on the adjectives show gender (m/f) and number (sg/pl) of the nouns.

How is the verb choisit formed, and what are the other forms of choisir in the present tense?

Choisir is a regular -ir verb. In the present tense:

je choisis – I choose
tu choisis – you choose (singular, informal)
il / elle / on choisit – he / she / one chooses
nous choisissons – we choose
vous choisissez – you choose (plural or formal)
ils / elles choisissent – they choose

In your sentence, Marie choisit uses the il/elle form (choisit).
The -t at the end of choisit is silent in pronunciation.

Where does souvent go in the sentence? Is Marie choisit des tomates jaunes souvent also correct?

The most neutral, standard place for souvent (often) is right after the conjugated verb:

✅ Marie choisit souvent des tomates jaunes.

Other possible positions:

✅ Souvent, Marie choisit des tomates jaunes. (emphasis on “often”)
✅ Marie choisit des tomates jaunes, souvent. (more like an afterthought or emphasis)

Marie choisit des tomates jaunes souvent is not wrong, but it’s less typical in neutral style and may sound a bit heavier. The safest pattern to learn is:

Subject + verb + adverb (souvent) + rest of the sentence.

Why is there a comma before mais? Is it always required?

In French, a comma before mais (but) is very common and recommended, but not absolutely required.

Both are seen:

J'aime la salade verte, mais Marie choisit souvent des tomates jaunes.
J'aime la salade verte mais Marie choisit souvent des tomates jaunes.

The comma simply makes the contrast more visually clear. Many style guides advise using it, especially when the clauses are a bit longer.

Does salade mean “salad” or “lettuce” in French?

salade can mean both, depending on context:

A salad (the prepared dish)
- une salade verte = a green salad
- une salade de tomates = a tomato salad
Lettuce (the vegetable)
- acheter de la salade = to buy lettuce

Une salade verte is often understood as a simple green salad made with lettuce, so context decides whether you think of the dish, the vegetable, or both.

Could you say Marie choisit souvent les tomates jaunes instead of des tomates jaunes? What would be the difference?

Yes, you can say it, but the meaning changes slightly.

Marie choisit souvent des tomates jaunes.
→ She often chooses some yellow tomatoes; it’s about particular tomatoes in specific situations (like at the market).
Marie choisit souvent les tomates jaunes.
→ She often chooses the yellow tomatoes; this sounds like:
- either specific, identifiable yellow tomatoes (e.g., on a particular display),
- or a general habit contrasting types: “She tends to go for the yellow ones.”

In everyday speech, when talking about buying/choosing food with no specific tomatoes in mind, des is more natural.

Why does Marie not take an article, while la salade and des tomates do?

Marie is a proper name, and in standard French, personal first names are used without an article:

Marie choisit...
Paul arrive.
Sophie téléphone.

Common nouns (things, objects, foods, etc.) do take an article:

la salade
les tomates
un livre
des enfants

There are regional or stylistic uses where names can take an article (e.g. la Marie, le Paul), but that’s not the neutral standard taught to learners.

How is aime from aimer conjugated in the present tense, and are forms like aime, aimes, aiment pronounced differently?

Present tense of aimer:

j'aime – I like / love
tu aimes – you like / love (singular, informal)
il / elle / on aime – he / she / one likes / loves
nous aimons – we like / love
vous aimez – you like / love (plural or formal)
ils / elles aiment – they like / love

Pronunciation point:
aime, aimes, and aiment all sound the same in everyday speech:

j'aime
tu aimes
il/elle aime
ils/elles aiment

All are pronounced like [ɛm] (similar to “em”). The final -s and -ent are silent in these forms.