Learn Hardcore French: Quand la vidéo est trop lourde à télécharger, Paul garde seulement le fichier enregistré. - When the video is too large to download, Paul keeps only the recorded file.

In the phrase trop lourde à télécharger, why does French use lourde (literally heavy) to talk about file size instead of a word that directly means big, like grosse?

In tech and everyday language, French often uses lourd / lourde figuratively to mean “large/heavy in data size” or resource‑intensive, not just physically heavy.

Un fichier lourd = a big file in terms of megabytes/gigabytes, slow to send or download.
Une vidéo trop lourde = the video file is too big (too many MB/GB).

Alternatives exist, but they’re slightly different in nuance:

trop gros / trop grosse – can refer to physical size or data size, but sounds a bit less technical and can focus more on general “bigness.”
trop volumineux / volumineuse – more formal, also means “bulky / very large (in size).”

In modern usage, trop lourd(e) is very natural for file size and matches what people commonly say about attachments, videos, etc.

Why is it lourde and not lourd?

Because adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.

la vidéo is feminine singular.
So lourd must become lourde (feminine singular).

Examples:

La vidéo est lourde. (feminine noun → feminine adjective)
Le fichier est lourd. (masculine noun → masculine adjective)
Les vidéos sont lourdes. (feminine plural)
Les fichiers sont lourds. (masculine plural)

So trop lourde agrees with la vidéo.

Why is it à télécharger and not pour télécharger or pour être téléchargée?

French has a common pattern: adjective + à + infinitive to express something that is easy/difficult/pleasant/heavy etc. to do.

Examples of this pattern:

C’est facile à comprendre. – It’s easy to understand.
Ce livre est long à lire. – This book is long to read.
Cette valise est lourde à porter. – This suitcase is heavy to carry.

So trop lourde à télécharger fits the same pattern:

La vidéo est trop lourde à télécharger.
→ Literally: The video is too heavy to download.

Alternatives:

trop lourde pour être téléchargée – grammatically correct but more formal/heavier style.
trop lourde pour la télécharger – not idiomatic here, because with pour + infinitive, you normally refer to the subject’s purpose, not the property of the thing:
- Je la garde pour la télécharger plus tard. – I keep it in order to download it later.

In trop lourde à télécharger, the focus is on the inherent property of the video (it is “heavy to download”), so à télécharger is the natural construction.

In English I might say “When the video is too big to download, Paul will only keep the recorded file.” Why does French use the present tense (est, garde) in this sentence?

In French, Quand + présent, followed by présent, is the normal way to express a general, habitual situation – what happens whenever this condition occurs.

Quand la vidéo est trop lourde à télécharger, Paul garde seulement le fichier enregistré.
= Whenever the video is too heavy to download, Paul (always) only keeps the recorded file.

There is no need for a future tense where English might use will:

English: When it’s too big, he *will keep only…*
French: Quand c’est trop lourd, il garde seulement…

So:

Quand + présent → présent expresses habit / rule / general fact, not a one-time future event.

What is the difference between quand, lorsque, and si here? Could I say Lorsque la vidéo est trop lourde… or Si la vidéo est trop lourde…?

All three are possible, but they’re not identical in nuance.

Quand
Very common, neutral. Means “when / whenever” in time or repeated situations.
→ Quand la vidéo est trop lourde… sounds completely natural.
Lorsque
More formal/literary, often interchangeable with quand in written French.
→ Lorsque la vidéo est trop lourde… is correct, just a bit more formal.
Si
Expresses condition rather than time: “if”.
→ Si la vidéo est trop lourde à télécharger, Paul garde seulement le fichier enregistré.
= If the video is too heavy to download, Paul only keeps the recorded file.

In everyday speech here, Quand and Si are both very common:

Quand = whenever that situation happens.
Si = if that condition is met.

Both work; quand emphasizes the repeated situation; si emphasizes the condition.

What exactly does garde mean in Paul garde seulement le fichier enregistré? Is it like “guard,” “keep,” “save,” or “record”?

The verb garder usually means “to keep / hold on to / not throw away or not delete.”

In this sentence:

Paul garde seulement le fichier enregistré.
= Paul keeps only the recorded file (he doesn’t keep the rest).

Important distinctions:

garder – to keep, to hold onto something (not delete, not give away).
- Je garde ce fichier. – I’m keeping this file.
enregistrer – to record; sometimes also “to register.”
- J’enregistre une vidéo. – I record a video.
sauvegarder – to save (a computer file).
- Je sauvegarde le document. – I save the document.

So here, garde is not “to record” (that’s enregistrer) and not “to guard/protect” in the English sense; it simply means “he keeps it” (he doesn’t delete it).

Why is seulement placed after garde? Could I say Paul seulement garde le fichier… or Paul garde le fichier seulement…?

The “default” position for many adverbs (including seulement) in French is after the conjugated verb:

Paul garde seulement le fichier enregistré.
= Paul only keeps the recorded file.

This is the most natural word order here.

Other positions:

Paul ne garde que le fichier enregistré.
This is a very common alternative.
- ne … que = “only,” and it’s often stylistically preferred.
- Meaning is essentially the same as with seulement.
Paul seulement garde le fichier enregistré.
This is possible, but now seulement more clearly modifies Paul:
- “Only Paul keeps the recorded file” (maybe others don’t).
  It shifts the focus: only Paul, not only the file.
Paul garde le fichier seulement.
This is understandable but feels less natural and can sound a bit awkward; French tends not to put seulement at the very end like English does.

So for “Paul only keeps the recorded file”, the best options are:

Paul garde seulement le fichier enregistré.
Paul ne garde que le fichier enregistré.

In le fichier enregistré, what is enregistré doing grammatically, and why is it masculine?

Here, enregistré is a past participle used as an adjective describing fichier.

fichier is masculine singular → le fichier
The adjective/participle must agree: enregistré (masc. sing.), not enregistrée.

So:

le fichier enregistré – the recorded file
la vidéo enregistrée – the recorded video
les fichiers enregistrés – the recorded files
les vidéos enregistrées – the recorded videos

Grammatically:

fichier = noun
enregistré = participle functioning as an adjective modifying fichier.

Why is it la vidéo and not une vidéo or something like sa vidéo?

Using la vidéo (definite article) suggests that the video is known or specific in the context:

Maybe they are talking about a particular video (for example, the one Paul just made).
Or it refers to videos in general in a typical situation, but expressed with a definite article, which is common in French.

Different choices would change the nuance:

Quand une vidéo est trop lourde à télécharger…
→ “When a video is too heavy to download…” (any video, non-specific, more generic).
Quand sa vidéo est trop lourde à télécharger…
→ “When his video is too heavy to download…” (clearly the video that belongs to him).

With la vidéo, the speaker either:

assumes a specific video is already in mind, or
is talking in a general, almost generic way (French often uses the definite article for general statements).

Does télécharger mean “to download” or “to upload” in French?

In practice, télécharger is often used for both:

télécharger un fichier depuis Internet – to download a file from the internet.
télécharger une vidéo sur un site – can be understood as upload or download depending on context.

Because of this ambiguity, people sometimes clarify:

télécharger depuis – download from…
téléverser – to upload (more precise, but less commonly used in everyday speech).
mettre en ligne / uploader – colloquial ways to say “to upload.”

In your sentence, télécharger clearly means to download (the problem is that the video is too big to download).