Breakdown of Quand je regarde une série en français, je mets les sous-titres en français.
Questions & Answers about Quand je regarde une série en français, je mets les sous-titres en français.
Here, the speaker is talking about a general habit, not one specific future event.
In French, for habits or general truths, you use the present tense in both parts:
- Quand je regarde une série en français, je mets les sous-titres en français.
→ “Whenever I watch…, I put on… (as a rule).”
- Quand je regarde une série en français, je mets les sous-titres en français.
You would use the future (both verbs) if you talk about one specific future situation:
- Quand je regarderai une série en français, je mettrai les sous-titres en français.
→ “When I watch a series in French (next time / in the future), I will put on the subtitles in French.”
- Quand je regarderai une série en français, je mettrai les sous-titres en français.
So present = habit; future = one particular future case.
Yes, you can say Lorsque je regarde une série en français, je mets les sous-titres en français. The meaning is basically the same.
- quand is the most common, neutral word for when in everyday speech.
- lorsque is a bit more formal or bookish, and you see it more in writing, news, literature, or careful speech.
- Grammatically, in this kind of time clause, they work the same way.
For normal spoken French, quand is more natural. Using lorsque here would just sound a bit more formal or literary.
Série is feminine in French, so it takes une.
- une série = a show / a series (feminine noun)
- French gender is mostly arbitrary and must be memorized word by word.
- A practical tip: when you learn new vocabulary, always learn it with its article:
- une série
- un film
- une émission (a program/show)
- un dessin animé (a cartoon)
There is no rule here that would let you guess the gender of série correctly; you just have to remember une série.
Here en français means “in French (language)”.
With languages, French normally uses en + [language]:
- en français – in French
- en anglais – in English
- en espagnol – in Spanish
- en France would mean “in France (the country)”, not “in French”.
- You cannot use à français or dans français here; they are ungrammatical.
So en + language is the standard way to say “in [that language]” when talking about the language a book, film, subtitles, etc. are in.
Mettre does literally mean “to put”, but it has several common extended meanings in French. One of them is “to put on / to switch on / to set” in the context of devices or settings.
In this sentence, je mets les sous-titres en français means:
- “I turn on / activate / set the subtitles in French.”
Other similar uses of mettre:
- mettre la télé – to put the TV on / turn on the TV
- mettre la radio – to turn on the radio
- mettre le chauffage – to turn on the heating
- mettre son clignotant – to put on your indicator (in a car)
Also note the spelling:
- je mets (with s) is the correct present form for je.
- je met (without s) is incorrect.
French uses the definite article les here because we are talking about “the subtitles” as a known option/setting on the video. It’s like saying “I turn the subtitles on.”
- les sous-titres = the subtitles (specific / known type of thing)
- des sous-titres = some subtitles (indefinite, some quantity of subtitles – less natural in this context)
- sous-titres with no article is generally not allowed in this kind of sentence in French (you normally need an article).
So: when you talk about using the subtitles feature on a show, you normally say les sous-titres.
Sous-titres is written with a hyphen because it’s a compound noun:
- sous = under
- titres = titles
→ literally “under-titles”.
It’s plural because we naturally think of subtitles as multiple lines of text; in both French and English we usually use the plural (subtitles / sous-titres).
Singular forms:
- un sous-titre = one subtitle (a single line or single instance)
- les sous-titres = the subtitles (the whole subtitle track / system)
You could say Quand je regarde une série en français, je mets les sous-titres. and people would understand, but:
- je mets les sous-titres is a bit less precise; it only tells us that you turn subtitles on, not in which language.
- je mets les sous-titres en français makes it explicit that both the audio and the subtitles are in French.
Repeating en français is totally natural in French and avoids any ambiguity (for example, that the audio is in French but the subtitles might be in English).
Yes, that is perfectly correct:
- Je mets les sous-titres en français quand je regarde une série en français.
In French, you can usually put the “when”-clause (with quand) either:
- at the beginning:
Quand je regarde une série en français, je mets les sous-titres en français. - or at the end:
Je mets les sous-titres en français quand je regarde une série en français.
The meaning doesn’t change; it’s just a matter of style and rhythm.
You can say Je mets les sous-titres français, and people will understand. The difference is subtle:
- les sous-titres en français explicitly means “the subtitles in French (language)”.
- les sous-titres français focuses a bit more on “French subtitles” as a kind or category (for example, as opposed to English or Spanish subtitles).
In everyday speech, les sous-titres en français is very common and very clear. les sous-titres français is also correct; it just sounds a bit more like talking about them as a type of subtitles.