À la fin du tournoi, Marie est la gagnante, même si l’adversaire a plus d’expérience.

At the end of the tournament, Marie is the winner, even if the opponent has more experience.

Breakdown of À la fin du tournoi, Marie est la gagnante, même si l’adversaire a plus d’expérience.

• être: to be
• Marie: Marie
• avoir: to have
• à: at
• l'expérience: the experience
• plus: more
• la fin: the end
• même si: even if
• du: of the
• le tournoi: the tournament
• l'adversaire: the opponent
• le gagnant: the winner

Questions & Answers about À la fin du tournoi, Marie est la gagnante, même si l’adversaire a plus d’expérience.

Why is it “À la fin du tournoi” and not “au fin du tournoi” or something else?

In French, the noun “fin” (end) is feminine, so it must take the feminine article “la”, giving “la fin”, not le fin.

The preposition + article combination is:

• à + la fin → à la fin (at the end)

With “tournoi” (tournament), which is masculine, you say:

• de + le tournoi → du tournoi

So the full phrase is:

• À la fin du tournoi = At the end of the tournament

What exactly does “du” mean in “du tournoi”?

“Du” is a contraction of “de + le”:

• de = of
• le = the (masculine singular)

So:

• de le tournoi is grammatically wrong
• It must contract to du tournoi = of the tournament

This contraction is mandatory in French.

Why is it “Marie est la gagnante” instead of using a verb like “gagne” or “a gagné”?

“Marie est la gagnante” literally means “Marie is the (female) winner.”

• Marie gagne = Marie wins / is winning (verb “gagner”)
• Marie a gagné = Marie won / has won (past tense)
• Marie est la gagnante = focuses on her status as “the winner” at the end, not the act of winning.

The sentence is describing the final result: at the end of the tournament, her role/position is “the winner.”

Why is it the present tense (“Marie est”) if the tournament is over?

French often uses the present tense for:

• General truths or results that are valid at a given point in time
• A kind of “narrative present” when telling a story

Here, “À la fin du tournoi, Marie est la gagnante” means:

• At the end of the tournament, (we see that) Marie is the winner.

You could also say “Marie a été la gagnante” (Marie was the winner), but the present makes the statement feel more immediate and factual.

Why is it “la gagnante” with an -e, and not “le gagnant”?

The noun for “winner” changes with gender:

• un gagnant = a male winner
• une gagnante = a female winner

Marie is female, so the correct form is:

• la gagnante

If the winner were a man named Paul, you’d say:

• Paul est le gagnant.

Could you also say “Marie est gagnante” without “la”? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can say:

• Marie est gagnante.

Difference:

• Marie est la gagnante = Marie is *the winner* (the one specific winner of the tournament).
• Marie est gagnante = Marie is (a) winning / in a winning position. It can sound more like a general state or advantage, and less like the official title of “the winner.”

In this context (end of a tournament, one winner), “la gagnante” is more precise.

Why “même si” and not something like “bien que”?

“Même si” means “even if / even though” and introduces a fact or hypothesis very naturally in spoken French.

• même si l’adversaire a plus d’expérience
  = even though the opponent has more experience

“Bien que” also means “although / even though”, but:

• It is more formal/literary.
• It requires the subjunctive: bien que l’adversaire *ait plus d’expérience.*

So:

• même si + indicatif (a) is simpler and very common.
• bien que + subjonctif (ait) is correct but more advanced/formal.

Why is it “l’adversaire a plus d’expérience” and not “plus de l’expérience” or “plus des expériences”?

With “plus de” in the sense of “more (of)”, French uses “de” (or d’ before a vowel) without an article:

• plus de temps = more time
• plus d’argent = more money
• plus d’expérience = more experience

So “plus d’expérience” is the normal structure.

• plus de l’expérience would sound like “more of the specific experience,” and is rarely what’s meant.
• plus des expériences would mean “more of the experiences” (plural concrete experiences), which is not the idea here.

How do you pronounce “plus” in “plus d’expérience”? Is the s silent?

In comparative expressions like “plus d’expérience” (more experience), the s is usually pronounced:

• Pronunciation: [plyz‿dɛkspɛʁjɑ̃s] (roughly plooz deks-per-ryans)

Guideline:

• plus = [plys] / [plyz] (with s or z sound) when it means “more” and is followed by something.
• plus = [ply] (no s sound) mainly when it means “no more / not anymore” (ne… plus).

So here, you normally pronounce the s.

What gender is “adversaire”? How can I tell?

“Adversaire” (opponent) is a noun that can be:

• masculine or feminine, depending on who it refers to.

You can’t tell the gender from the form itself. You need context or determiners:

• l’adversaire is ambiguous by itself (because l’ works for both le and la).
• son adversaire could be his/her opponent.
• If you specify: un adversaire (male), une adversaire (female).

In this sentence, “l’adversaire” is just “the opponent,” gender not specified.

Why is there a comma before “même si”?

The comma before “même si” separates:

• The main clause: Marie est la gagnante
• From the concessive clause: même si l’adversaire a plus d’expérience

In French, it’s very common (though not absolutely required) to put a comma before conjunctions introducing subordinate clauses, especially:

• mais, car, parce que, bien que, même si, etc.

So the comma here helps readability and reflects a slight pause in speech.

Why is it “À la fin du tournoi” and not “Au fin du tournoi”?

Two reasons:

1. “fin” is feminine, so you must use “la fin”, not “le fin”. Therefore:

   • à la fin (correct)
   • au fin (incorrect)

2. “au” is the contraction of “à + le”, used only with masculine singular nouns:

   • à + le → au (e.g., au cinéma)
   • à + la → no contraction (e.g., à la maison)

Since fin is feminine, you keep à la.