Je visite le laboratoire avec Marie.

I visit the laboratory with Marie.

Breakdown of Je visite le laboratoire avec Marie.

• je: I
• Marie: Marie
• avec: with
• visiter: to visit
• le laboratoire: the lab

Questions & Answers about Je visite le laboratoire avec Marie.

Why is it je visite and not something like je vais visiter or je suis visiter?

In French, the simple present (je visite) usually covers both English I visit and I am visiting.
So:

• Je visite le laboratoire = I visit the laboratory / I am visiting the laboratory.

You don’t usually need an extra verb like être (to be) or aller (to go) to make a “continuous” form.

You can say:

• Je vais visiter le laboratoire. = I am going to visit the laboratory (future intention).
• Je suis en train de visiter le laboratoire. = I am in the middle of visiting the laboratory (emphasizes “right now”).

But for a normal present action, je visite alone is correct and natural.

Why is it je visite and not je rends visite?

French distinguishes between visiting a place and visiting a person:

• visiter = to visit a place (a city, museum, laboratory, etc.)
  • Je visite le laboratoire. = I’m visiting the laboratory.
• rendre visite à quelqu’un = to visit a person
  • Je rends visite à Marie. = I’m visiting Marie (going to see her).

So Je visite le laboratoire avec Marie means I’m visiting the lab, and Marie is with me, not I’m visiting Marie.

Why do we say le laboratoire and not just laboratoire with no article?

In French, a common noun almost always needs some kind of article (or determiner): le, la, les, un, une, des, etc.

• le laboratoire = the laboratory
• Saying just laboratoire (with no article) is usually wrong in a normal sentence.

English often omits the article (e.g. go to school, at work), but French nearly always requires it, especially with concrete things like le laboratoire.

Why is it le laboratoire and not la laboratoire?

Every French noun has a grammatical gender: masculine or feminine.
Laboratoire happens to be masculine, so it takes the masculine definite article le:

• le laboratoire (masculine)
• la voiture (feminine)

There’s no completely reliable rule to guess gender just from the ending, but many words in -oire (like laboratoire, répertoire) are masculine. You mostly need to learn the gender with the noun: le laboratoire as one chunk.

What is the difference between au laboratoire and le laboratoire? When would I use au instead?

• le laboratoire = the laboratory (as a direct object, like “I visit the laboratory”)

  • Je visite le laboratoire.

• au laboratoire = à + le laboratoire = to the / at the laboratory (location)

  • Je vais au laboratoire. = I’m going to the laboratory.
  • Je travaille au laboratoire. = I work at the laboratory.

So with visiter, you say visiter le laboratoire (no à), because visiter takes its object directly:

• ✅ Je visite le laboratoire.
• ❌ Je visite au laboratoire. (incorrect)

Why do we say avec Marie and not chez Marie?

• avec expresses “with (in someone’s company)”:

  • Je visite le laboratoire avec Marie.
    = I’m visiting the lab with Marie (she is accompanying me).

• chez expresses “at someone’s home / office / place”:

  • Je suis chez Marie. = I am at Marie’s (house or place).
  • Je vais chez le médecin. = I’m going to the doctor’s (office).

So avec Marie tells you who is accompanying the speaker, while chez Marie tells you where they are (at Marie’s place).

Can I change the word order of avec Marie? For example, can I say Avec Marie, je visite le laboratoire?

Yes, word order in French is a bit flexible for emphasis.

All of these are grammatically correct:

• Je visite le laboratoire avec Marie. (most neutral and common)
• Avec Marie, je visite le laboratoire. (emphasizes with Marie)
• Je visite, avec Marie, le laboratoire. (more written/literary style)

For everyday speech, Je visite le laboratoire avec Marie is the most natural.

Why can’t I drop je and just say Visite le laboratoire avec Marie?

In French, you almost always need to say the subject pronoun (je, tu, il, etc.). The verb ending alone usually isn’t enough in normal speech:

• ✅ Je visite le laboratoire. = I’m visiting the lab.
• ❌ Visite le laboratoire. (as a statement, this is incorrect)

Without je, Visite le laboratoire avec Marie would instead be understood as an imperative (a command):

• Visite le laboratoire avec Marie. = Visit the laboratory with Marie! (telling someone what to do)

Why is it je visite and not j’visite with an apostrophe?

The subject pronoun je only contracts to j’ before a vowel sound or silent h:

• j’aime, j’écoute, j’habite (because a, é, h are vowel sounds / silent h)

But visite starts with v, a consonant sound, so je does not contract:

• ✅ Je visite.
• ❌ J’visite. (incorrect in standard French)

How do you pronounce je visite le laboratoire avec Marie? Are there any liaisons?

Approximate pronunciation (in IPA):

• Je visite le laboratoire avec Marie
  /ʒə vi.zit l(ə) la.bɔ.ʁa.twaʁ a.vɛk ma.ʁi/

Notes:

• je = /ʒə/, similar to “zhuh”
• visite = /vi.zit/ (final -e almost silent, but keeps the t pronounced)
• le often reduced to a very short /lə/ or almost /l/ before laboratoire
• laboratoire = /la.bɔ.ʁa.twaʁ/ (final -e silent)
• avec = /a.vɛk/ (final c pronounced like k)
• Marie = /ma.ʁi/, the r is a French uvular ʁ

There is no required liaison between visite and le, or between avec and Marie here.

Why is Marie capitalized but laboratoire is not?

In French:

• Proper nouns (names of people, cities, countries, etc.) are capitalized:

  • Marie, Paris, Paul

• Common nouns (objects, places in general, professions, etc.) are not:

  • le laboratoire, la voiture, l’école

So Marie is capitalized because it’s a person’s name, while laboratoire is just the common noun “laboratory” and stays lowercase.

Could Je visite le laboratoire avec Marie mean that the laboratory belongs to Marie?

Normally, Je visite le laboratoire avec Marie is understood as:

• I’m visiting the laboratory, and Marie is with me.

To say that the laboratory belongs to Marie, French would usually use de:

• Je visite le laboratoire de Marie.
  = I’m visiting Marie’s laboratory.

So avec Marie tells you who is accompanying the speaker, not who owns the laboratory.