Marie porte un bracelet rouge à son poignet.

Marie wears a red bracelet on her wrist.

Breakdown of Marie porte un bracelet rouge à son poignet.

• Marie: Marie
• rouge: red
• porter: to wear
• son: her
• à: on
• le bracelet: the bracelet
• le poignet: the wrist

Questions & Answers about Marie porte un bracelet rouge à son poignet.

What does porte mean here? Is it wears or is wearing, and can it also mean carries?

In this sentence, porte (from porter) means wears / is wearing.

French doesn’t have a special continuous form like English is wearing, so the simple present elle porte can mean both:

• Marie wears a red bracelet on her wrist (general habit)
• Marie is wearing a red bracelet on her wrist (right now)

The verb porter is versatile and can mean:

• to wear: porter un bracelet, porter une robe
• to carry: porter un sac, porter un enfant
• to bear / support in some contexts: porter un poids, porter un nom

The meaning is decided by the object. With clothing or accessories (bracelet, robe, lunettes), porter almost always means to wear.

Why is the present tense porte used instead of something like est en train de porter for “is wearing”?

French usually uses the simple present where English uses the -ing form.

So:

• Marie porte un bracelet rouge.
  → can mean both Marie wears a red bracelet and Marie is wearing a red bracelet.

The expression être en train de + infinitive (e.g. est en train de porter) does exist, but it’s used mainly when you want to emphasize that the action is in progress right now, often with a contrast:

• Ne la dérange pas, elle est en train de travailler.
  Don’t disturb her, she is working (right now).

For clothing, in everyday speech, people almost always just say:

• Elle porte une robe noire.
• Il porte des lunettes.

not elle est en train de porter…

Why is rouge placed after bracelet? In English we say “red bracelet”, not “bracelet red”.

In French, most adjectives — including colors like rouge — come after the noun.

So:

• un bracelet rouge = a red bracelet
• une voiture rouge = a red car
• un pull rouge = a red sweater

Only a group of common, short adjectives (often summarized as BANGS: beauty, age, number, goodness, size) usually go before the noun, for example:

• un beau bracelet (a beautiful bracelet)
• un vieux bracelet (an old bracelet)
• un petit bracelet (a small bracelet)

• un bon bracelet (a good/quality bracelet)

  But rouge is not in that group, so it goes after the noun: un bracelet rouge, not un rouge bracelet.

Does rouge have to agree with bracelet? How would it change in feminine or plural forms?

Yes. In French, most adjectives agree in gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural) with the noun they describe.

Here:

• bracelet is masculine singular → un bracelet rouge

For rouge, the forms are:

• masculine singular: rouge
• feminine singular: rouge
• masculine plural: rouges
• feminine plural: rouges

So:

• un bracelet rouge (masculine singular)
• des bracelets rouges (masculine plural)
• une robe rouge (feminine singular)
• des robes rouges (feminine plural)

The spoken form doesn’t change between singular and plural here; the -s in rouges is silent, but it must be written.

Why is it à son poignet and not sur son poignet or something with dans?

French uses different prepositions than English in these physical-location expressions.

For body parts with things worn on them (bracelets, rings, watches, etc.), French normally uses à:

• un bracelet au poignet / à son poignet (on the wrist)
• une bague au doigt (on the finger)
• une montre au poignet (on the wrist)
• des boucles d’oreilles aux oreilles (on the ears)

You would not say:

• ✗ sur son poignet for a bracelet in normal French (it sounds wrong or at least unusual)
• ✗ dans son poignet would mean inside her wrist, which makes no sense here.

So à son poignet is the natural idiomatic way to say on her wrist.

Why is it son poignet when Marie is a woman? Shouldn’t it be sa poignet for “her wrist”?

In French, the possessive (son / sa / ses) agrees with the gender and number of the noun possessed, not with the person who owns it.

• poignet (wrist) is a masculine singular noun → it takes son:
  • son poignet = her wrist / his wrist
• If the noun were feminine, we’d use sa:
  • sa main (his/her hand) — main is feminine
• For plurals, we use ses:
  • ses poignets (his/her wrists)

So for Marie:

• son poignet (because poignet is masculine, regardless of Marie’s gender)
• sa main
• ses poignets

Could we say au poignet instead of à son poignet? What’s the difference?

Both exist, but there’s a nuance:

• à son poignet = on her wrist, explicitly referring to her wrist.
• au poignet = on the wrist, more generic, often used when it’s obvious whose body part you mean.

Compare:

• Marie porte un bracelet rouge à son poignet.
  Focuses more clearly on Marie’s own wrist.
• Elle porte un bracelet rouge au poignet.
  Natural too; context tells us it’s her wrist.

In many everyday contexts, especially with clothing and accessories, French often uses au + body part without repeating the possessor:

• Il a mal au dos. (His back hurts.)
• Elle s’est blessé au genou. (She injured her knee.)

Here, à son poignet is perfectly correct and maybe a bit more explicit for a learner.

Why is it un bracelet and not le bracelet?

Un is the indefinite article (“a / an”), and le is the definite article (“the”).

• Marie porte un bracelet rouge.
  → introduces the bracelet as a red bracelet, not previously known or specified.
  It answers: What is she wearing? – a red bracelet (any one).

• Marie porte le bracelet rouge.
  → refers to the specific red bracelet that we already know about from context (for example, the one we mentioned earlier or the only one in question).

So un bracelet rouge is the natural choice if we’re talking about this bracelet for the first time or in a general description.

Can I leave out à son poignet and just say Marie porte un bracelet rouge?

Yes, perfectly.

• Marie porte un bracelet rouge.
  → Already means Marie is wearing a red bracelet.

We normally assume bracelets are worn on the wrist, so the location is obvious. À son poignet just makes the picture more explicit, emphasizes the body part, or might be useful in a context where the exact place matters (e.g. comparing ankle bracelet vs wrist bracelet).

Both are correct:

• With location specified: Marie porte un bracelet rouge à son poignet.
• Without location: Marie porte un bracelet rouge.

How do you pronounce porte un bracelet rouge à son poignet? Any tricky silent letters or liaisons?

Key pronunciation points:

• porte → /pɔʁt/
  
  • Final -e is silent.
• un → /œ̃/ (nasal vowel, like “uhn” through the nose)
• bracelet → /bʁas.lɛ/ or /bʁa.slɛ/
  
  • Final -t is silent.
  • The -ce- is pronounced /s/.
• rouge → /ʁuʒ/ (like “roozh”)
• à → /a/
• son → /sɔ̃/ (nasal vowel again, like “sohn” through the nose)
• poignet → /pwa.ɲɛ/
  
  • oi → /wa/
  • gn → /ɲ/ (like the “ny” in canyon)
  • final -t is silent.

No necessary liaison between porte and un here (you normally do not pronounce the t in porte before un), so you would say:

[pɔʁt œ̃ bʁas.lɛ ʁuʒ a sɔ̃ pwa.ɲɛ]

What’s the difference between porter and mettre with clothes and accessories?

Both are common, but they’re used at different moments:

• porter = to wear (state, result)
  • Marie porte un bracelet rouge.
    Marie is wearing a red bracelet.
• mettre = to put on (action of putting it on)
  • Marie met un bracelet rouge à son poignet.
    Marie is putting on a red bracelet on her wrist.

So:

• Use porter to describe what someone has on.
• Use mettre to describe the action of putting it on.

Is bracelet only for jewelry on the wrist, or can it mean other kinds of bracelets?

Bracelet in French is used quite broadly for things worn around the wrist:

• jewelry: un bracelet en or, un bracelet en argent
• watch band/strap: un bracelet de montre
• fitness/ID/medical bands: un bracelet électronique, un bracelet d’identification
• festival or event wristbands: un bracelet de festival

If you want to be more precise, you can specify:

• un bracelet de montre (watch strap)
• un bracelet en cuir (leather bracelet)
• un bracelet en plastique (plastic wristband)