Learn Hardcore French: Les habitants aiment cette artiste, et ils l’invitent souvent à y montrer ses tableaux. - The inhabitants like this artist, and they often invite her to show her paintings there.

In this sentence, the idea is that the residents of that place like the artist and invite her, so les habitants is more precise than les gens.

Why is it cette artiste? Isn’t artiste the same for masculine and feminine?

Yes, artiste has the same written form for masculine and feminine.

un artiste = a male artist
une artiste = a female artist

In the sentence we see cette artiste, which uses the feminine demonstrative adjective cette. That tells us the artist is grammatically feminine (so: this female artist).

If it were a man, you would say cet artiste (masculine form before a vowel).

Why do we say et ils l’invitent and not just et l’invitent, like English “and invite her”?

In French, you cannot normally drop the subject pronoun. Each clause needs its subject stated:

Les habitants aiment cette artiste, et ils l’invitent… ✅
Les habitants aiment cette artiste, et l’invitent… ❌ (feels incomplete)

Even though it’s the same subject as before, French still repeats ils at the start of the new clause after et. Subject pronouns in French are not optional the way they sometimes are in English.

What does l’ stand for in ils l’invitent, and why is it before the verb?

l’ is a direct object pronoun meaning him/her/it. Here, it refers back to cette artiste.

ils invitent cette artiste → ils l’invitent

French object pronouns come before the conjugated verb:

ils l’invitent = they invite her
ils la connaissent = they know her
ils le respectent = they respect him / it

Because le / la is followed by a vowel (invitent), it contracts to l’ (elision): l’invitent.

What exactly does y mean in à y montrer ses tableaux?

y is a pronoun that usually replaces a place introduced by à, dans, chez, sur, etc. Here it means there.

The idea is:

They invite her to show her paintings there (in that place we have in mind).

Typical pattern:

Je vais à Paris. J’y vais demain. = I’m going to Paris. I’m going there tomorrow.
On expose ses œuvres dans cette galerie. On y expose ses œuvres. = We exhibit works in that gallery. We exhibit them there.

So à y montrer ses tableaux = to show her paintings there.

Could we just leave out y and say à montrer ses tableaux?

Yes, grammatically you can say:

… ils l’invitent souvent à montrer ses tableaux.

That would still mean they often invite her to show her paintings, but it loses the explicit reference to a particular place.

With y, the sentence clearly means:

They invite her to that place (the town, gallery, cultural center, etc.) to show her paintings there.

Without y, the focus is more on the action (showing her paintings) and less on where.

Why is it à montrer and not de montrer or pour montrer after l’invitent?

After inviter quelqu’un the usual pattern is:

inviter quelqu’un à faire quelque chose

So:

ils l’invitent à montrer ses tableaux = they invite her to show her paintings.

Using de here would be incorrect:

ils l’invitent de montrer… ❌

You could use pour in a slightly different structure:

Ils l’invitent pour montrer ses tableaux.
This sounds more like they invite her in order to show her paintings (their purpose is to show paintings, not necessarily that she will be the one doing the showing).

The safest, most standard pattern with inviter + infinitive is inviter quelqu’un à faire quelque chose.

Where does souvent usually go? Why ils l’invitent souvent and not souvent ils l’invitent or ils l’invitent à y montrer souvent ses tableaux?

For simple verb forms, adverbs like souvent typically go right after the conjugated verb:

Ils l’invitent souvent. ✅
Ils mangent souvent ici. ✅

Other positions are possible but change style or emphasis:

Souvent, ils l’invitent. (fronted for emphasis: Often, they invite her.)
Ils l’invitent à y montrer souvent ses tableaux. (grammatical, but now souvent modifies montrer ses tableaux, so it means she often shows them there each time she’s invited.)

In the original sentence, souvent logically modifies l’invitent (they invite her often), so ils l’invitent souvent is the most natural order.

Who does ses refer to in ses tableaux: the inhabitants or the artist?

Ses is a possessive adjective: son / sa / ses = his / her / its.

Its gender and number agree with the thing owned, not with the owner:

un tableau → son tableau
des tableaux → ses tableaux

In context, ses tableaux refers to cette artiste (her paintings), not les habitants. The logic is:

The residents like this artist.
They invite her to show her paintings.

French doesn’t mark the owner’s gender here, so ses can mean his, her, or its. Only context tells you it’s her.

Why tableaux and not peintures? What’s the difference?

French makes some distinctions:

un tableau (plural des tableaux)
Typically: a painting on a support, often on canvas, wood, etc., usually framed and hung on a wall. Also used for “picture” in the art sense.
une peinture (plural des peintures)
Can mean:
- the act or technique of painting (painting as an art form), or
- a painting, but this is less specific and more general than tableau.
un dessin
A drawing (pencil, pen, charcoal, etc., not paint).

In a context about an artist showing works in an exhibition, ses tableaux is very natural when you mean framed works/paintings to display. Ses peintures would also be possible but carries a slightly more general or technical feel, depending on context.

Why is there a comma before et in …, et ils l’invitent…? Is it required?

The comma here separates two independent clauses:

Les habitants aiment cette artiste
ils l’invitent souvent à y montrer ses tableaux

In French, you often put a comma before et when it introduces a new clause with its own subject, especially in written style:

Il est venu, et il est reparti aussitôt.

However, it is not absolutely mandatory. You could also write:

Les habitants aiment cette artiste et ils l’invitent souvent…

Both are acceptable. The comma just gives a slight pause and clarity in writing.

In l’invitent and à y, why do we have the apostrophe? What’s going on with l’ and à y?

Two different things are happening:

l’invitent
- Here we have la (or le) + invitent.
- Because la / le end in a vowel and invitent starts with a vowel, French uses elision, dropping the vowel and adding an apostrophe:
  - la invitent → l’invitent
  - le invitent → l’invitent
à y
- Here there is no elision or apostrophe between à and y. They stay separate words: à y.
- Phonetically, à y is pronounced something like [aji], but it’s still written as two separate words.

So: l’invitent shows elision; à y does not.

Could we say ils l’y invitent instead of ils l’invitent à y montrer ses tableaux?

Ils l’y invitent is grammatically correct, but it means something different:

Ils l’y invitent = They invite her there (to that place).
It doesn’t say what for.

The original:

Ils l’invitent souvent à y montrer ses tableaux.
explicitly mentions the purpose: to show her paintings there.

So:

ils l’y invitent → focus on the destination (they invite her to that place).
ils l’invitent à y montrer ses tableaux → focus on what she will do there (show her paintings).