Breakdown of Leur colocataire est curieuse et pose beaucoup de questions sur leur village.
Questions & Answers about Leur colocataire est curieuse et pose beaucoup de questions sur leur village.
Leur agrees with the number of the noun that follows, not with how many owners there are.
- Leur colocataire = their roommate (one roommate shared by several people)
- Leurs colocataires = their roommates (several roommates)
In the sentence, there is one roommate, so you use:
- singular possessive: leur
- singular noun: colocataire
- singular verb: est (not sont)
So Leur colocataire est… = Their roommate is…
Yes. Both leur in:
- Leur colocataire est curieuse…
- …sur leur village.
are the same word: the 3rd person plural possessive adjective meaning their.
They are:
- invariable in gender (same form with masculine or feminine nouns)
- variable in number (change to leurs before a plural noun)
So:
- leur colocataire = their roommate (singular)
- leur village = their village (singular)
- leurs colocataires / leurs villages = their roommates / their villages (plural)
We know the roommate is female because of the adjective curieuse.
- Masculine form: curieux
- Feminine form: curieuse
Adjectives in French agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.
Here, the adjective is describing colocataire, so:
- colocataire (here) is understood as feminine
- therefore: curieuse (feminine), not curieux
So the sentence tells us: Their (female) roommate is curious…
The base adjective is curieux (masculine). To make it feminine:
- Masculine: curieux
- Feminine: curieuse
This is a regular pattern for adjectives ending in -eux:
- sérieux → sérieuse
- heureux → heureuse
- curieux → curieuse
Since colocataire is feminine here, the adjective must also be feminine: curieuse.
Curieuse can mean both, depending on context and tone.
Neutral / positive: interested, eager to know more
- A naturally inquisitive person.
Negative / slightly critical: nosy, prying
- Someone who asks a lot of questions about others’ private lives.
In Leur colocataire est curieuse et pose beaucoup de questions sur leur village, it could be:
- neutral: she’s really interested in their village,
- or slightly negative: she’s poking her nose into their business.
The sentence alone doesn’t fix the tone; it depends on the larger context or how it’s said.
In French, the standard expression is poser des questions (literally “to put/ask questions”), not demander des questions.
- poser une question / des questions = to ask a question / questions
- demander = to ask for something or to ask someone to do something
Examples:
Elle pose beaucoup de questions.
She asks a lot of questions.Elle demande un service.
She asks for a favor.Elle demande à son ami de l’aider.
She asks her friend to help her.
So demander des questions is incorrect; you must say poser des questions or, as in the sentence, poser beaucoup de questions.
After beaucoup (and most expressions of quantity), you use de directly before the noun, without an article:
- beaucoup de questions = a lot of questions
- beaucoup de travail = a lot of work
- beaucoup de villages = many villages
You don’t say:
- beaucoup des questions ❌
In general, with quantity words (beaucoup, peu, trop, assez, moins, plus, etc.), the pattern is:
beaucoup de + noun (without article)
So the correct form is beaucoup de questions.
The verb agrees with the subject, not with the possessive leur.
- Subject: Leur colocataire (one person)
- Verb: pose → 3rd person singular (il/elle)
Structure:
- Leur colocataire (their roommate)
- pose (asks)
- beaucoup de questions (a lot of questions)
Even though leur implies multiple owners (“their”), the thing owned is singular (one roommate). So the verb must also be singular:
- Leur colocataire pose… ✔
- Leur colocataire posent… ❌
Yes, but it changes the meaning slightly.
Leur colocataire est curieuse…
Their roommate is curious… (we know whose roommate she is)La colocataire est curieuse…
The roommate is curious… (no information about whose; maybe already clear from context)
Grammatically:
- With possessives (mon, ton, son, notre, votre, leur), you don’t use the article:
- leur colocataire, not la leur colocataire
Both are possible, but sur is shorter and very common in this kind of sentence.
- poser des questions sur quelque chose
= to ask questions about something - poser des questions à propos de quelque chose
= to ask questions about something (a bit more formal/explicit)
In everyday speech, sur is very frequent:
- des questions sur le film = questions about the film
- des questions sur toi = questions about you
- des questions sur leur village = questions about their village
So sur here means about.
Colocataire is:
- a roommate / flatmate / housemate
- someone who shares a rented place with you (apartment, house, etc.)
Notes:
- It can be masculine or feminine, same spelling:
- un colocataire = a (male) roommate
- une colocataire = a (female) roommate
- Context or agreement tells you the gender:
- Here, curieuse shows we’re talking about a female colocataire.
You can, but it changes the structure and nuance.
Leur colocataire est curieuse et pose beaucoup de questions…
- Two statements:
- She is curious.
- She asks a lot of questions.
- Two statements:
Leur colocataire curieuse pose beaucoup de questions…
- Sounds like: Their curious roommate asks a lot of questions…
- Here curieuse is an adjective attached to the noun (colocataire), not a separate statement with est.
Both are grammatically possible, but:
- Version with est curieuse et pose is more explicit, simple, and typical in learner-friendly French.
- Version without est is a bit more compact and slightly more written or descriptive in tone.