Breakdown of La première séance de janvier a été enregistrée par la caméra de Marie.
Questions & Answers about La première séance de janvier a été enregistrée par la caméra de Marie.
In French, adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.
- séance is a feminine singular noun.
- The ordinal number premier (first) becomes première in the feminine singular.
So:
- le premier jour = the first day (masculine)
- la première séance = the first session (feminine)
That is why the sentence has la première séance and not la premier séance.
Both structures are possible, but the meaning is slightly different:
la première séance de janvier
= literally the first session of January
This treats January as a kind of label or period to which the session belongs, like saying the January session.la première séance en janvier
= the first session in January
This emphasizes time more strongly: the first session that took place in the month of January.
In your sentence, de janvier behaves like of January, describing the session as part of a series linked to January (e.g., monthly sessions).
du is the contraction of de + le and is used before masculine singular nouns that need a definite article:
- le mois de janvier → du mois de janvier (of the month of January)
But janvier here is a proper noun used like a name for the month; it doesn’t take an article in this expression. So we say:
- la première séance de janvier (the first session of January)
not - la première séance du janvier (incorrect)
We put de directly before the month name.
a été enregistrée is a passive form in the passé composé:
- a = auxiliary avoir (present)
- été = past participle of être
- enregistrée = past participle of enregistrer
Together, a été enregistrée = was recorded / has been recorded.
Active voice version:
- La caméra de Marie a enregistré la première séance de janvier.
= The camera recorded the session.
Passive voice version (your sentence):
- La première séance de janvier a été enregistrée par la caméra de Marie.
= The first January session was recorded by Marie’s camera.
So a été enregistrée is used because the sentence is in the passive voice.
In the passive voice, the past participle agrees with the subject in gender and number.
- Subject: la première séance → feminine singular
- Past participle: enregistré → must agree → enregistrée
Other examples:
- Le film a été enregistré. (masculine singular)
- Les séances ont été enregistrées. (feminine plural)
So the -e in enregistrée shows agreement with the feminine noun séance.
The agent in a passive sentence (the one doing the action) is introduced with par.
Here, the action (recording) is literally done by the camera:
- … a été enregistrée par la caméra de Marie.
= … was recorded by Marie’s camera.
If you wanted to emphasize Marie as the person responsible (rather than the device), you could say:
- … a été enregistrée par Marie.
= … was recorded by Marie.
Both are grammatically correct; the choice depends on whether you focus on the camera itself or on Marie as the agent.
To show possession in French, the normal structure is:
[possessed thing] + de + [owner]
So:
- la caméra de Marie = Marie’s camera
- la voiture de Paul = Paul’s car
à can sometimes show belonging in certain fixed expressions (e.g., C’est à moi. = It’s mine), but for standard noun–owner constructions, French uses de, not à.
So la caméra de Marie is the normal way to say Marie’s camera.
French does not use the apostrophe ’s possessive construction. Instead, it uses de:
- English: Marie’s camera
- French: la caméra de Marie
The structure is literally the camera of Marie. This is a general rule:
- John’s house → la maison de John
- my brother’s idea → l’idée de mon frère
In French, definite articles (le, la, les) are used more often than in English. When you say the first session, you almost always need la:
- la première séance = the first session
Without an article (première séance), it would sound like a title, a bullet point, or a very telegraphic style (e.g., in notes or headlines). In normal sentences, you include the article:
- La première séance de janvier a été enregistrée…
Unfortunately, grammatical gender in French is mostly arbitrary and must be learned with each noun. There are some tendencies, but many exceptions.
For séance:
- It ends in -ance, a common feminine ending (like la chance, la France, la danse).
- So séance is feminine, hence la séance, une séance, cette séance, première séance.
When you learn a new noun, it’s useful to memorize it together with its article:
- une séance rather than just séance.
Séance can mean several things depending on context:
- a lesson or class period (e.g., a yoga session, a therapy session)
- a meeting (especially formal or official)
- a movie showing (a cinema screening)
In your sentence, la première séance de janvier is probably the first session/meeting of January—for example, the first class, workshop, or therapy session scheduled in January. The exact English translation (session, meeting, showing) depends on context.
In French, names of months and days of the week are not capitalized (unless they start a sentence):
- janvier, février, mars…
- lundi, mardi, mercredi…
This is different from English, where: January, February, Monday, Tuesday all take capital letters. So de janvier is correct with a lowercase j.
Passive (original):
- La première séance de janvier a été enregistrée par la caméra de Marie.
= The first January session was recorded by Marie’s camera.
Active version:
- La caméra de Marie a enregistré la première séance de janvier.
= Marie’s camera recorded the first January session.
The meaning is essentially the same, but:
- Passive: focuses on la première séance de janvier (the session).
- Active: focuses on la caméra de Marie (the camera).