Breakdown of Sur le canapé, il y a plusieurs coussins rouges où le chat aime dormir.
Questions & Answers about Sur le canapé, il y a plusieurs coussins rouges où le chat aime dormir.
Sur generally means on / on top of. Here, the cushions are on top of the sofa, so sur le canapé = on the sofa.
- sur le canapé → on the sofa (physically resting on its surface)
- dans le canapé would mean inside the sofa, which sounds odd unless you mean literally inside the structure.
- à le canapé is not correct; you would contract it to au canapé, but even au canapé wouldn’t mean on the sofa, it would be closer to to the sofa / at the sofa, which is not what’s intended.
So for objects resting on a flat surface, French typically uses sur:
sur la table, sur le lit, sur le bureau, sur le canapé.
Le canapé uses the definite article (le = the). We usually use le / la / les when a specific item is meant in the context, not just any sofa.
In English you’d also say on the sofa, not on a sofa, because we normally imagine a particular sofa in the room we’re talking about.
- le canapé → the sofa (a specific one that speaker and listener can identify)
- un canapé → a sofa (some sofa, not a particular one)
- du canapé would mean of the sofa or some sofa depending on context, and it doesn’t fit here.
So Sur le canapé corresponds naturally to On the sofa in English.
Il y a is a very common French expression that means there is / there are.
- il here is an impersonal subject pronoun: it doesn’t refer to a person or object. It’s just grammatically required, like the it in it is raining.
- y roughly means there.
- a is the 3rd person singular of avoir (to have).
Literally, it comes from something like “it has there”, but you should treat il y a as a fixed unit meaning there is / there are.
So:
- il y a plusieurs coussins rouges → there are several red cushions
- You use il y a for both singular and plural:
- Il y a un coussin – There is a cushion
- Il y a plusieurs coussins – There are several cushions
Plusieurs means several (more than two, but not a huge quantity). It is an indefinite plural determiner and directly precedes a plural noun:
- plusieurs coussins → several cushions
Beaucoup de means a lot of / many / much. It’s a quantifier that must be followed by de + noun:
- beaucoup de coussins → many cushions / a lot of cushions
Key differences:
- Plusieurs is used on its own before a plural noun:
- plusieurs coussins, plusieurs personnes
- Beaucoup must be followed by de:
- beaucoup de coussins, beaucoup de personnes
In this sentence, plusieurs suggests a modest number of cushions, not necessarily a large pile.
Both are pillows, but they’re used in different contexts:
- un coussin: a cushion (usually for a sofa, chair, armchair, or decorative cushions on a bed).
- un oreiller: a pillow you sleep on in bed (under your head at night).
So:
- plusieurs coussins rouges sur le canapé → several red cushions on the sofa
- un oreiller doux sur le lit → a soft pillow on the bed
Since we’re talking about a sofa (canapé), coussins is the natural word.
In French, most adjectives come after the noun, whereas in English they usually come before.
- English: red cushions
- French: coussins rouges
So the normal order is:
- noun + adjective → coussins rouges, maison bleue, robe noire
Some common adjectives do come before the noun (e.g. beau, petit, grand, vieux, nouveau), but rouge is not one of those; it follows the regular pattern and goes after the noun.
That’s why we say plusieurs coussins rouges rather than plusieurs rouges coussins.
In French, adjectives must agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.
- coussin is masculine singular.
- coussins is masculine plural.
The base form of the color rouge is for masculine singular: rouge.
To make it plural (for coussins):
- masculine singular: rouge → one red cushion: un coussin rouge
- masculine plural: rouges → several red cushions: des coussins rouges
Notice:
- You add an -s in writing for the plural: rouge → rouges.
- The -s is not pronounced. rouge and rouges sound the same.
If the noun were feminine plural (e.g. des chaises rouges), the adjective would also be rouges (feminine plural), but again pronounced the same.
Yes, où is mainly known as where, but in French it can be used as a relative pronoun meaning where / in which / on which when talking about a place-like idea.
Here, the cushions are being treated as the place where the cat likes to sleep:
- les coussins rouges où le chat aime dormir
→ the red cushions where the cat likes to sleep
(literally: the red cushions on which / in which the cat likes to sleep)
Grammatically, où replaces something like:
- sur lesquels (on which)
- dans lesquels (in which)
Using où is shorter and more natural in this context. Even though coussins are objects, they represent the location of the sleeping, so où is fine.
Le chat uses the definite article (le = the). It implies that the speaker and listener know which cat is being referred to—probably the household cat.
- le chat aime dormir → the cat likes to sleep (a specific, known cat)
- un chat aime dormir → a cat likes to sleep (some cat, not specific)
- mon chat aime dormir → my cat likes to sleep
In many everyday situations, French prefers le / la / les for familiar, specific things:
- Le chat est sur le canapé. – The cat is on the sofa.
- Les enfants sont dans le jardin. – The children are in the garden.
So le chat fits a context like “our cat that we both know about.”
In French, when aimer (to like / to love) is followed by another verb, that next verb is in the infinitive without a preposition:
- aimer + infinitive
→ aime dormir, aime danser, aime lire
You do not add de or à between aimer and the second verb:
- ✅ le chat aime dormir – the cat likes to sleep
- ❌ le chat aime de dormir
- ❌ le chat aime à dormir (this sounds archaic or literary in most contexts)
So the correct structure is simply aimer + infinitif.
The comma after Sur le canapé is optional but common and natural in writing.
- Sur le canapé, il y a plusieurs coussins rouges...
Here, Sur le canapé is a fronted location phrase, and the comma helps:
- mark a small pause in speech,
- separate the introductory location from the main clause il y a plusieurs coussins rouges...
Without the comma, the sentence is still grammatically correct:
- Sur le canapé il y a plusieurs coussins rouges...
But in normal written style, that comma is usually included for clarity and rhythm.
Approximate pronunciation (using English-like hints):
- canapé → ka-na-PAY
- Final -é is pronounced ay
- The final -e here is part of é and is pronounced
- coussins → roughly koo-SAN (nasal -in)
- ou = oo (like food)
- ss = s
- in is a nasal sound (like French vin); it’s not een
- Final -s is silent
- rouges → roughly roozh
- ou = oo
- ge before silent s gives the soft zh sound (like the s in measure)
- Final -s is silent
- aime in le chat aime dormir → em
- The final -e is silent; it sounds like èm
So in plusieurs coussins rouges, neither the -s in coussins nor the -s in rouges is pronounced; they are only showing plural in spelling.