Learn Hardcore French: Marie veut adopter un mode de vie plus durable pour protéger la planète. - Marie wants to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle to protect the planet.

In French, when one verb follows another common “modal” verb (like vouloir, pouvoir, devoir, aimer), the second verb stays in the infinitive.

Marie veut adopter… = “Marie wants to adopt…”
- veut = 3rd person singular of vouloir (to want)
- adopter = infinitive (to adopt)

You cannot conjugate both verbs:

❌ Marie veut adopte
✅ Marie veut adopter

This is the same structure as English “wants to adopt” (want + to + verb).

What exactly does un mode de vie mean, and why not just une vie?

Un mode de vie is the standard French expression for “a way of life” / “a lifestyle.”

mode here means “way / manner”, not “fashion”.
vie = life
un mode de vie = literally “a way of life” → “a lifestyle”

If you said une vie plus durable, it would sound more like “a more sustainable life (in general)” and is less idiomatic than talking about un mode de vie plus durable when you mean “lifestyle.”

So:

✅ adopter un mode de vie plus durable = adopt a more sustainable lifestyle
❌ adopter une vie plus durable (understandable but not natural in this context)

Why is mode masculine (un mode) but vie feminine (la vie)?

In French, every noun has a grammatical gender (masculine or feminine) that you generally must memorize.

un mode → masculine
une vie / la vie → feminine
la planète → feminine

There is no fully reliable rule that will tell you the gender of every noun. You usually learn the gender along with the word:

un mode (de vie) = a way (of life)
une mode (with une) would mean “a fashion / a trend”

So it’s important to remember:

un mode de vie (lifestyle)
une mode (fashion, trend)

Why is durable after mode de vie and not before, like in English?

In French, most adjectives come after the noun they describe.

un mode de vie durable = a sustainable lifestyle
(literally: a lifestyle sustainable)

Only certain common adjectives (often very short, like grand, petit, beau, bon, mauvais, jeune, vieux, nouveau etc.) usually come before the noun.

Durable is a regular adjective, so it follows the noun:

✅ un mode de vie durable
❌ un durable mode de vie (this sounds wrong in French)

What does plus durable mean exactly, and how is plus pronounced here?

Plus durable means “more sustainable” / “more long‑lasting.”
It’s the comparative form:

durable = sustainable / long‑lasting
plus durable = more sustainable / more long‑lasting

Pronunciation of plus:

Before a consonant, in a comparative like this, many speakers do not pronounce the final s:
- plus durable ≈ ply durabl
If there is liaison or in some other contexts, the s can be pronounced like z (e.g., plus important often heard as plu-z-important).

In your sentence, plus is used for comparison (more), not for “no more / no longer”; in negative expressions like ne… plus, the final s is often pronounced.

Why is it pour protéger la planète and not something like pour protéger planète without la?

In French, you usually need an article (like le, la, les) in front of a singular noun, even when English would drop it.

la planète = the planet
English often says: “to protect the planet” or sometimes “to protect planet Earth,” but French really needs that article.

So:

✅ pour protéger la planète
❌ pour protéger planète

Here la planète refers to our planet in general, as a known, unique reality, which is why the definite article la is natural.

What is the function of pour + infinitive here?

Pour + infinitive often expresses purpose or intention, similar to “to / in order to” in English.

pour protéger la planète = “to protect the planet / in order to protect the planet”

Structure:

pour
- infinitive → for the purpose of doing X

You could also use afin de protéger la planète, which is a bit more formal or written, but the meaning is the same:

pour protéger la planète = afin de protéger la planète
→ both = “in order to protect the planet.”

Could I say Marie adopte un mode de vie plus durable pour protéger la planète instead of veut adopter? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can, but the meaning changes slightly.

Marie veut adopter un mode de vie plus durable…
→ “Marie wants to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle…” (intention, plan, desire)
Marie adopte un mode de vie plus durable…
→ “Marie is adopting / adopts a more sustainable lifestyle…” (action is happening or is established)

So:

veut adopter = she intends to, she wants to do it (maybe not done yet)
adopte = she is actually doing it (present action or general habit)

What exactly does adopter mean here? I thought it was only for adopting children.

Adopter in French has several related meanings:

To adopt (a child)
- adopter un enfant = to adopt a child
To adopt / take on a way of doing things, a style, an attitude, etc.
- adopter un mode de vie plus durable = to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle
- adopter une attitude positive = to adopt a positive attitude

In your sentence, adopter is used in this second, more general sense: “to take on / choose / embrace” a way of living.

How is veut formed, and what are the other forms of vouloir in the present tense?

Veut is the 3rd person singular (he/she/one) form of vouloir (to want) in the present tense.

Present tense of vouloir:

je veux – I want
tu veux – you want (informal singular)
il / elle / on veut – he / she / one wants
nous voulons – we want
vous voulez – you want (formal or plural)
ils / elles veulent – they want

So:

Marie veut adopter… = “Marie wants to adopt…”
(Marie = elle, so we use veut)

Could I say Marie voudrait adopter un mode de vie plus durable instead of veut adopter? What changes?

Yes, but the nuance changes slightly.

Marie veut adopter… = Marie wants to adopt…
→ direct, clear statement of desire/intention.
Marie voudrait adopter… = Marie would like to adopt…
→ more polite, softer, more tentative or hypothetical.

Voudrait is the 3rd person singular of the conditional of vouloir:

It often corresponds to English “would like” and can sound more polite or less blunt than veut.

Both are grammatically correct; you choose based on the tone you want.

Why is the word order un mode de vie plus durable, and not something like un plus durable mode de vie?

French word order is more rigid than English:

Noun (and its complements)
Then most adjectives

So we get:

un mode de vie (noun phrase: “a way of life”)
plus durable (adjective phrase: “more sustainable”)

→ un mode de vie plus durable

Putting plus durable before mode de vie would be ungrammatical:

❌ un plus durable mode de vie
✅ un mode de vie plus durable

Only a limited set of short, very common adjectives usually come before the noun (e.g. un petit chien, une belle maison). Durable is not one of them, so it goes after.