Sa cousine lui répond souvent par une longue lettre.

His cousin often answers him with a long letter.

Breakdown of Sa cousine lui répond souvent par une longue lettre.

• souvent: often
• répondre: to answer
• long: long
• lui: him
• par: with
• sa: his
• la cousine: the cousin
• la lettre: the letter

Questions & Answers about Sa cousine lui répond souvent par une longue lettre.

In sa cousine, why is it sa and not son?

In French, sa / son / ses agree with the thing owned, not with the owner.

• cousine is a feminine noun (ending in -e): la cousine
• For a singular feminine noun, you use sa: sa cousine = his/her cousin (female)

So:

• son cousin = his/her (male) cousin
• sa cousine = his/her (female) cousin
  The gender of the cousin decides sa vs son, not whether the owner is male or female.

Does sa cousine mean his cousin or her cousin?

By itself, sa cousine is ambiguous; it can mean:

• his cousin (female)
• her cousin (female)

French does not mark the gender of the owner in sa / son / ses; it only marks the gender and number of the noun possessed. Context must tell you whose cousin it is.

What exactly does lui mean in this sentence, and why is it not le or la?

In Sa cousine lui répond souvent par une longue lettre:

• lui is an indirect object pronoun meaning to him or to her.
• The verb répondre is used as répondre à quelqu’un (to answer someone).

So:

• répondre à Paul / à Marie → to answer Paul/Marie
• répondre à lui / à elle → replaced in standard French by lui
• Hence: Sa cousine lui répond = His/Her cousin answers him/her.

le / la are direct object pronouns (him/her/it), used with verbs that take a direct object (voir quelqu’un, aider quelqu’un), not with répondre.

Can lui here mean both to him and to her?

Yes. lui is the same form for both genders in the indirect object:

• His cousin often answers him with a long letter
• His cousin often answers her with a long letter
• Her cousin often answers him/her with a long letter

All of those could be expressed by Sa cousine lui répond souvent par une longue lettre.
Only context will say whether lui is male or female.

Why is lui placed before the verb répond, instead of after it like in English?

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

• Sa cousine lui répond. (not Sa cousine répond lui.)

Basic pattern (without infinitives/compound tenses) is: > subject + (object pronouns) + verb

Examples:

• Je lui parle. = I speak to him/her.
• Nous leur écrivons. = We write to them.

So Sa cousine (subject) + lui (indirect object pronoun) + répond (verb) follows the normal word order.

What tense and person is répond here, and how is it conjugated?

répond is:

• verb: répondre (to answer, to reply)
• tense: présent de l’indicatif (present tense)
• person: 3rd person singular (il / elle / on)

Relevant part of the present conjugation:

• je réponds
• tu réponds
• il / elle / on répond
• nous répondons
• vous répondez
• ils / elles répondent

So Sa cousine répond = His/Her cousin answers / replies (present).

How do you pronounce répond and why is the final -d not pronounced?

répond is pronounced approximately [ʀe-pɔ̃] (reh-pohn, nasal on), with:

• ré- like ray but shorter
• -pond with a nasal on sound; the final d is silent

In most French verb forms ending in -d, -ds, or -ent in the present tense, the final consonant(s) are not pronounced:

• il répond → /ʀepɔ̃/
• ils répondent → /ʀepɔ̃/ (same spoken form)

So spelling shows grammar, but pronunciation often stays the same.

Why is souvent placed after lui répond instead of at the beginning of the sentence?

The most neutral position for adverbs of frequency like souvent (often) is after the conjugated verb:

• Sa cousine lui répond souvent. = His/Her cousin often answers him/her.

Other possibilities exist, but they change emphasis:

• Souvent, sa cousine lui répond par une longue lettre.
  → Often, his/her cousin replies to him/her with a long letter.
  (focus on “often” as a general comment)
• Sa cousine lui répond par une longue lettre, souvent.
  → more colloquial, adding “often” as an afterthought.

The standard, unmarked choice is the one in your sentence: verb + souvent.

Why is it par une longue lettre and not avec une longue lettre?

Here par means “by means of / via”:

• répondre par une lettre = to answer by (sending) a letter,
  i.e. the letter is the means or channel of the reply.

avec would sound more like together with or accompanied by, and is not idiomatic with répondre in this sense.

Compare:

• Il a répondu par un e-mail. = He answered by email.
• Il est venu avec une lettre. = He came with a letter (he brought one with him).

So with the verb répondre, par une lettre is the normal expression.

Could you say just par lettre instead of par une longue lettre? What changes?

Yes, you could say:

• Sa cousine lui répond souvent par lettre.

Differences:

• par lettre is more general: by letter as a way of communicating, no detail about number or length.
• par une longue lettre specifies one particular reply and gives a nuance of “a long letter” each time.

So:

• par lettre → focuses on the method (in general)
• par une longue lettre → focuses on each individual reply, described as long

Why is it une longue lettre and not une lettre longue? Where should adjectives usually go?

Most French adjectives normally go after the noun:

• une lettre importante (an important letter)
• un livre intéressant (an interesting book)

However, some common, short, and/or more “subjective” adjectives typically go before the noun. long / longue is one of them, especially with time/space/size nuances:

• une longue lettre
• un long voyage
• une longue histoire

une lettre longue is possible but sounds unusual and more contrastive, as if you’re insisting on long in a descriptive or even slightly critical way.

So:

• une longue lettre = the usual, natural phrasing.
• une lettre longue = marked, insisting on the length (e.g. a letter that is long, as opposed to short).

Why does longue end with -ue here? What is it agreeing with?

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

• The basic form is long (masculine singular): un long voyage.

• lettre is feminine singular (une lettre), so long becomes longue:

  • masculine: long
  • feminine: longue
  • masculine plural: longs
  • feminine plural: longues

Thus:

• une lettre longue / une longue lettre
• des lettres longues / de longues lettres

Here, longue agrees with lettre (feminine singular).

How would the sentence change in the negative, or if I turn it into a question?

Negative:

• Sa cousine ne lui répond pas souvent par une longue lettre.
  = His/Her cousin does not often answer him/her with a long letter.

The ne … pas surrounds the verb (and pronoun):

• subject: Sa cousine
• pronoun: lui
• ne
  • verb: ne répond
• pas after the verb: ne lui répond pas

Questions:

1. With intonation (most informal; just change voice):

   • Sa cousine lui répond souvent par une longue lettre ?

2. With est-ce que:

   • Est-ce que sa cousine lui répond souvent par une longue lettre ?

3. Inverted (more formal/written):

   • Sa cousine lui répond-elle souvent par une longue lettre ?

In all cases, the pronoun lui stays right before the verb.