Breakdown of Son appareil photo est léger, donc elle l'emporte même pendant les grandes manifestations en ville.
Questions & Answers about Son appareil photo est léger, donc elle l'emporte même pendant les grandes manifestations en ville.
In French, son / sa / ses agree with the grammatical gender and number of the thing possessed, not with the person who owns it.
- appareil is a masculine noun: un appareil
- So you must use the masculine singular possessive: son appareil
- This is true whether it means his camera or her camera
You only know it is her camera from the subject elle later in the sentence, not from son itself.
If it were a feminine noun, e.g. la caméra, then you would say sa caméra (his camera / her camera).
appareil photo literally means photo device and is the normal way to say camera in French, especially for:
- still cameras (DSLR, mirrorless, compact cameras)
- a camera as an object, regardless of what it records
caméra in French usually refers to:
- a video camera
- often more professional or dedicated video equipment (e.g. caméra de surveillance, caméra de télévision)
So for a regular camera that someone carries around to take pictures, appareil photo is the natural choice, not caméra.
Adjectives in French agree with the noun they describe:
- appareil photo is masculine singular
- The adjective léger (light, not heavy) must match that: léger (masculine singular)
So:
- Son appareil photo est léger. – The camera is light.
- If the noun were feminine singular, you would use légère:
- Sa valise est légère. – Her suitcase is light.
- For plural, it would be légers / légères:
- Ces appareils sont légers. – These devices are light.
In this sentence:
- Son appareil photo est léger, donc elle l’emporte…
donc means so / therefore and introduces the logical consequence.
You could say:
- Son appareil photo est léger, alors elle l’emporte… – also fine, a bit more neutral/spoken.
- Son appareil photo est léger, du coup elle l’emporte… – very common in spoken French, more informal/colloquial.
donc is slightly more neutral and can sound a bit more written or formal than du coup, but all three can express a similar idea here.
French object pronouns go before the conjugated verb, and le / la become l’ in front of a vowel sound:
- The thing taken is l’appareil photo (masculine singular)
- Direct object pronoun (him/it) = le
- The verb emporte starts with a vowel sound (e)
So le emporte must contract to:
- elle l’emporte – she takes it (with her)
This l’ stands for le here. (It could also stand for la in other sentences; the apostrophe form doesn’t show gender.)
In this context, emporter means to take (something) with you when you go somewhere.
Rough guide to the similar verbs:
- porter – to carry (focus on the physical act):
- Elle porte son appareil. – She is carrying her camera.
- emporter – to take something away / along with you:
- Elle emporte son appareil. – She is taking her camera (with her).
- apporter – to bring something to the place where the speaker/listener is:
- Apporte ton appareil. – Bring your camera (here).
- amener – to bring a person or animal (moving with them):
- Elle amène son ami. – She brings her friend.
- emmener – to take a person or animal somewhere with you:
- Elle emmène ses enfants en ville. – She takes her children into town.
In the sentence, l’emporte is a compact way of saying she takes it along with her.
Here, même means even:
- … donc elle l’emporte même pendant les grandes manifestations en ville.
→ … so she even takes it during big demonstrations in the city.
It emphasizes that she takes her camera not only in normal situations, but even in situations where you might expect her not to (big, crowded protests).
The position même + pendant is natural; you could also say:
- Elle l’emporte pendant les grandes manifestations aussi. – She takes it during big demonstrations as well. (slightly different nuance)
In this sentence, pendant means during:
- pendant les grandes manifestations – during the big demonstrations
You could also say:
- durant les grandes manifestations – very similar, a bit more formal or literary.
- lors des grandes manifestations – more like at the time of / on the occasion of the big demonstrations; somewhat more formal.
All three are grammatically correct. pendant is the most neutral and common in everyday French.
Yes, une manifestation is often a false friend.
In this context, les grandes manifestations en ville means:
- big demonstrations / protests / rallies in the city
Common meanings of manifestation in French:
- manifestation as a public protest or march
- more generally, an organized public event (sports, cultural events, etc.)
It usually does not mean manifestation in the English sense of appearance / display of a quality in everyday speech.
Both can be correct, but they are not identical:
- les grandes manifestations en ville
→ suggests specific, known big demonstrations that occur in that city (maybe the usual political protests, regular big marches, etc.). The listener is assumed to know which kind. - des grandes manifestations en ville
→ some big demonstrations in the city, more indefinite or non-specific.
In the original sentence, les makes it sound like a general, known phenomenon: whenever there are the big demonstrations in town, she still takes her camera.
en ville means roughly in town / in the city (area) in a general, everyday sense:
- les grandes manifestations en ville – big demonstrations in town / in the city
Differences:
- en ville
- Everyday phrase: in town, in the city (as opposed to the countryside or outside the city center).
- dans la ville
- More literal: inside the city, within the city limits; can sound more geographical or specific.
- à la ville
- Rare in this sense; mainly used in set expressions like à la ville, à la campagne (in the city, in the countryside).
In most everyday contexts about being or doing things in a town or city, en ville is the natural choice.