Je lis et j'écoute de la musique en même temps.

I read and listen to music at the same time.

Breakdown of Je lis et j'écoute de la musique en même temps.

• je: I
• et: and
• lire: to read
• écouter: to listen
• de la: some
• la musique: the music
• en même temps: at the same time

Questions & Answers about Je lis et j'écoute de la musique en même temps.

Why is it j'écoute and not je écoute?

In French, je becomes j' in front of a word that starts with a vowel sound (or silent h). This is called elision.

• je + écoute → j'écoute
• This avoids the awkward two vowel sounds in a row (je écoute).

You only write j' when the next word starts with a vowel sound, for example:

• j’aime, j’habite, j’écoute, j’imagine
  but
• je lis, je parle, je mange (because these start with a consonant sound).

Why is it de la musique and not just musique or la musique?

French usually needs an article (a little word like le, la, les, un, une, du, de la) in front of nouns, even when English doesn’t.

Here, de la is a partitive article, often translated as “some”:

• j’écoute de la musique ≈ “I listen to (some) music.”

If you said:

• j’écoute la musique – you’d be talking about specific music already known from context (for example: “I’m listening to the music (that you put on)”).
• j’écoute musique – is incorrect in standard French.

So for a general activity (“I listen to music”), de la musique is the natural choice.

Why isn’t it j’écoutes with an s at the end?

Because the subject is je (I), and in the present tense of regular -er verbs, je takes no final s in writing:

• j’écoute – I listen
• tu écoutes – you listen
• il/elle écoute – he/she listens

So:

• je lis et j’écoute is correct.
• je lis et j’écoutes is incorrect.

Is the s in lis pronounced? And is there any liaison?

Alone, lis is pronounced [li] (like lee). The final s is silent.

However, in a sentence like Je lis et j'écoute, there is typically a liaison between lis and et:

• lis et → pronounced roughly [li z e] (you hear a z sound)
• The s of lis is pronounced as [z] before the vowel sound of et.

So you might hear:
[ʒə li ze ʒekut də la myzik ɑ̃ mɛm tɑ̃]

Could I say Je lis pendant que j'écoute de la musique instead of en même temps?

Yes, but the nuance is slightly different:

• Je lis et j'écoute de la musique en même temps.
  → “I read and listen to music at the same time.”
  Neutral, straightforward expression of simultaneity.

• Je lis pendant que j'écoute de la musique.
  → More like “I read while I’m listening to music.”
  This explicitly sets up one action happening during the other.

Both are grammatically correct. En même temps is very common and slightly simpler.

Can I drop the second je and say Je lis et écoute de la musique en même temps?

Yes, this is grammatically possible:

• Je lis et écoute de la musique en même temps.

In French, when two verbs share the same subject and are joined by et, you can usually omit the repeated subject pronoun.

However:

• Keeping j’ (Je lis et j’écoute…) is more natural and clearer in speech.
• Dropping it can sometimes sound a little more formal or written.

So both are correct, but the original sentence is more typical everyday French.

Can en même temps go somewhere else in the sentence?

Yes, adverbial expressions like en même temps are fairly flexible, though some positions sound more natural than others. With this sentence, common options are:

• Je lis et j'écoute de la musique en même temps. (most natural)
• En même temps, je lis et j'écoute de la musique. (more contrastive, like “At the same time, I read and listen to music.”)

Putting it between the verbs is less natural here:

• ❌ Je lis en même temps et j’écoute de la musique. (sounds awkward)

So the original word order is the best everyday choice.

What is the infinitive of lis, and how is it conjugated?

The infinitive is lire (to read), an irregular verb.

Present tense (indicative):

• je lis – I read / I am reading
• tu lis – you read
• il / elle / on lit – he / she / one reads
• nous lisons – we read
• vous lisez – you read (formal / plural)
• ils / elles lisent – they read

So in the sentence, je lis is “I read / I’m reading.”

Why is je only capitalized here because it’s at the start of the sentence, unlike English I which is always capitalized?

In French:

• je is written with a lowercase j in the middle of a sentence:
  • Parfois, je lis et j’écoute de la musique.
• It is capitalized only when it is the first word of a sentence, just like any other word:
  • Je lis et j’écoute de la musique en même temps.

In English, I is always capitalized, but in French je follows normal capitalization rules; it doesn’t get special treatment.

Why is there a de before la musique instead of something like à la musique after écouter?

The verb écouter (to listen to) in French does not take a preposition before its direct object:

• écouter quelqu’un / quelque chose – to listen to someone / something
  • j’écoute la radio
  • j’écoute de la musique
  • j’écoute mon ami

You do not say:

• ❌ j’écoute à la musique

The de la in de la musique is not linked to écouter; it’s the partitive article (“some music”), as explained earlier.