Le salaire n'est pas parfait, mais elle l'accepte de toute façon.

The salary is not perfect, but she accepts it anyway.

Breakdown of Le salaire n'est pas parfait, mais elle l'accepte de toute façon.

• être: to be
• elle: she
• ne ... pas: not
• mais: but
• accepter: to accept
• l': it
• parfait: perfect
• le salaire: the salary
• de toute façon: anyway

Questions & Answers about Le salaire n'est pas parfait, mais elle l'accepte de toute façon.

What is the role of ne ... pas in n'est pas parfait, and can you ever drop ne?

Ne ... pas is the basic way to make a sentence negative in standard French.

• est parfait = is perfect
• n'est pas parfait = is not perfect

Structure:
ne (n') + verb + pas

In n'est pas:

• ne becomes n' before a vowel sound (est)
• pas comes after the verb

In careful written French, you should keep both ne and pas.
In informal spoken French, people very often drop ne and just say:

• Le salaire est pas parfait, mais elle l'accepte de toute façon.

That’s common in speech but still considered informal in writing.

Why is it parfait and not parfaite? What does parfait agree with?

Parfait is an adjective and must agree with the noun it describes.

• The noun here is le salaire (masculine, singular).
• So the adjective also has to be masculine singular: parfait.

Forms of parfait:

• Masculine singular: parfait → un salaire parfait
• Feminine singular: parfaite → une situation parfaite
• Masculine plural: parfaits
• Feminine plural: parfaites

It agrees with le salaire, not with elle.
So even though she is feminine, the adjective follows salaire (masc.), not elle.

Why is it le salaire and not la salaire? How do I know the gender?

In French, every noun has a grammatical gender. Salaire happens to be masculine, so it takes le:

• le salaire = the salary
• un salaire = a salary

There is no logical rule here; you simply have to learn salaire as masculine vocabulary:

• le salaire minimum (the minimum wage)
• son salaire (his/her salary) – still masculine on the inside, but son because it starts with a consonant sound.

Dictionaries will mark it as (n.m.) = nom masculin.

Could you also say son salaire n'est pas parfait? What’s the difference from le salaire n'est pas parfait?

Yes, both are possible, but the nuance changes slightly:

• Le salaire n'est pas parfait
  → The salary isn’t perfect
  This sounds like you’re talking about the salary for this job in general, or a known specific salary.

• Son salaire n'est pas parfait
  → Her salary isn’t perfect
  This emphasizes that it’s her (or his) particular salary.

In many real contexts, both would be understood to mean her pay for this job isn’t great, but son salaire makes the ownership more explicit.

Why is it elle l'accepte and not elle accepte le salaire? How does the pronoun l' work?

French often uses object pronouns instead of repeating the noun.

• Elle accepte le salaire. = She accepts the salary.
• If the salary has already been mentioned, French prefers to replace le salaire with a pronoun:
  Elle l'accepte. = She accepts it.

Here:

• le salaire is masculine singular.
• The matching direct object pronoun is le.
• Because le comes before a verb starting with a vowel sound (accepte), it becomes l' (elision):

→ elle le accepte → elle l'accepte

So l' = le salaire in this sentence.

Why does the pronoun come before the verb in elle l'accepte? In English it comes after.

In English: She accepts it. → pronoun after the verb.
In French: Elle l'accepte. → pronoun before the verb.

General rule for simple tenses in French:

• Subject + object pronoun
  • verb
    
    • Elle le prend. = She takes it.
    • Je les vois. = I see them.
    • Nous la connaissons. = We know her/it.

So the natural order is:

Elle (subject) + l' (object pronoun) + accepte (verb)

What does de toute façon mean exactly, and how is it used?

De toute façon is a common expression that means roughly:

• anyway
• in any case
• regardless

In the example:

• Le salaire n'est pas parfait, mais elle l'accepte de toute façon.
  → The salary isn’t perfect, but she accepts it anyway / in any case.

You often use it to say that something is true despite what was just mentioned:

• Il va pleuvoir, mais on sortira de toute façon.
  = It’s going to rain, but we’ll go out anyway.
• De toute façon, je n’ai pas le choix.
  = In any case, I don’t have a choice.

What’s the difference between de toute façon and quand même here?

Both can translate as anyway or still, but they feel a bit different.

• de toute façon stresses “in any case / regardless of that fact”
• quand même stresses “despite that / even so” and is very common in speech.

In this sentence, both are possible:

• Le salaire n'est pas parfait, mais elle l'accepte de toute façon.
• Le salaire n'est pas parfait, mais elle l'accepte quand même.

Nuance:

• de toute façon can sound a bit more neutral or matter-of-fact.
• quand même often adds a hint of surprise, resignation, or insistence: she still accepts it, even though it’s not great.

Is n'est pas parfait the only natural way to say this? Are there more colloquial options?

It’s correct and natural, but French speakers often use other adjectives that sound more idiomatic in everyday speech:

• Le salaire n'est pas idéal... = The salary isn’t ideal…
• Le salaire n'est pas terrible...
  (surprisingly) = The salary isn’t great…
• Le salaire n'est pas génial... = The salary isn’t fantastic…
• Le salaire n'est pas ouf... (slang) = The salary isn’t amazing…

So you might hear:

• Le salaire n'est pas terrible, mais elle l'accepte de toute façon.

How is this sentence pronounced, especially the liaisons and elisions?

Approximate pronunciation (in IPA):

• Le salaire → /lə sa.lɛʁ/
• n'est pas → /n‿ɛ pa/
  
  • n' links to est: /n‿ɛ/
• parfait → /paʁ.fɛ/
• mais elle → /mɛ z‿ɛl/
  
  • There is usually a liaison: mais elle → /mɛ z‿ɛl/
• l'accepte → /lak.sɛpt/
  
  • l'
    • vowel: one sound group
• de toute façon → /də tut fa.sɔ̃/
  
  • toute usually /tut/ here (no final e sound)
  • façon nasal on → /ɔ̃/

All together, smoothly:

Le salaire n'est pas parfait, mais elle l'accepte de toute façon.
→ /lə sa.lɛʁ n‿ɛ pa paʁ.fɛ, mɛ z‿ɛl lak.sɛpt də tut fa.sɔ̃/