Breakdown of Désormais, nous faisons le tri des déchets pour protéger la planète.
Questions & Answers about Désormais, nous faisons le tri des déchets pour protéger la planète.
Désormais means from now on / from this point forward / henceforth.
It doesn’t just mean “now” in a neutral way; it suggests a change of habit or a new rule starting now and continuing into the future.
- Désormais, nous faisons le tri…
⇒ Up to now we didn’t (or not systematically), but from now on we will.
Maintenant just means now, at the present moment, without strongly implying a change in behavior:
- Maintenant, nous faisons le tri…
⇒ Right now we’re doing it (and it may or may not be a new habit).
It’s often at the beginning, but it can move:
- Désormais, nous faisons le tri des déchets… (very natural)
- Nous faisons désormais le tri des déchets… (also common)
Putting it at the end is possible but less usual here and sounds a bit more formal or stylistic:
- Nous faisons le tri des déchets désormais.
So: beginning and after the verb are the preferred positions.
Faire le tri is an expression that literally means to do the sorting / to sort things out. Here it means to separate waste for recycling, so “to sort the trash”.
- faire = to do / make
- le tri = the sorting / the sorting process
You could also use the verb trier:
- Nous trions les déchets. = We sort the waste.
But in everyday French, faire le tri is very common, especially when talking about sorting waste, paperwork, clothes, etc.:
- Je dois faire le tri dans mes papiers. = I have to sort through my papers.
Le tri here is a sort of “generic” or “institutional” action: the sorting (that needs to be done).
- faire le tri is used as a set expression: “to do the sorting”.
Changing the article changes the nuance:
- faire un tri – to do a sorting, a specific instance (e.g. “I did a big sort of my closet today.”)
- faire du tri – to do some sorting (more vague, like “I’m sorting things out a bit.”)
For waste management, the standard phrase is faire le tri des déchets.
Here des is de + les, so it means of the:
- le tri des déchets = the sorting of the waste
So grammatically:
- le tri (the sorting)
- de + les déchets (of + the wastes) → des déchets
If you translated word-for-word, it’s “the sorting of the waste(s)”, but in natural English we just say “sorting the trash / sorting the waste”.
We’re not directly saying “we sort the waste”; we’re saying “we do the sorting of the waste”.
Nous trions les déchets.
Here les déchets is a direct object of the verb trier.Nous faisons le tri des déchets.
Here le tri is the direct object of faire.
des déchets depends on le tri (it’s “the sorting OF the waste”).
So the structure forces de + les → des, giving le tri des déchets.
Here pour introduces a purpose: in order to / to.
- Nous faisons le tri… pour protéger la planète.
⇒ We sort the waste in order to protect the planet.
Structure: pour + infinitive = “to / in order to + verb”
Other examples:
- Je travaille pour gagner de l’argent. = I work to earn money.
- Il étudie pour réussir. = He studies to succeed.
You could, but the meaning shifts slightly.
Nous faisons le tri des déchets pour protéger la planète.
⇒ Purpose: we sort the waste so that we protect the planet (goal).Nous faisons le tri des déchets parce que nous voulons protéger la planète.
⇒ Cause/reason: we sort the waste because we want to protect the planet.
So:
- pour + infinitive = purpose / goal
- parce que + clause = cause / explanation
French uses definite articles (le, la, les) much more than English, especially with general concepts.
La planète here means the planet (Earth) in a general, almost collective sense. French speakers often say:
- sauver la planète = to save the planet
- protéger la planète = to protect the planet
You could say notre planète (our planet), but la planète is the standard, neutral way to speak about the Earth as a whole.
Both are correct, but they differ in style and tone:
Nous faisons le tri…
- More formal or neutral.
- Common in writing, public announcements, school settings, etc.
On fait le tri…
- Very common in everyday spoken French.
- on often means “we” in conversation.
So a very natural spoken version would be:
- Désormais, on fait le tri des déchets pour protéger la planète.
Context decides the best English verb. For waste, the usual translations are:
- to sort the trash / waste / rubbish
- to separate the trash
- to separate recyclables (if you want to be specific)
In more general contexts, faire le tri can also be:
- to sort things out
- to go through (and sort)
- to clear out / to declutter (for clothes, papers, etc.)
But there is no single fixed English expression that always matches faire le tri as neatly as in French; the core idea is “sorting/separating things, often to keep some and discard others.”
Yes, if the context makes it clear what you are sorting.
For example, if everyone is already talking about recycling household waste:
- Désormais, nous faisons le tri.
⇒ It will be understood as “we sort our waste now.”
However, when the context isn’t clear, adding des déchets (or another noun) avoids ambiguity:
- faire le tri des déchets – sort the trash
- faire le tri de mes vêtements – sort my clothes
- faire le tri dans mes papiers – sort through my papers
A few key ones:
Désormais:
- dé-sor-mai (final -s is silent)
- é like ay in “say”, but shorter and tenser.
- ai in -mais is like é here: /dezɔʁmɛ/.
nous faisons:
- faisons pronounced roughly fuh-zon /fə.zɔ̃/.
- Final -s is silent; the on is a nasal vowel (not “on” as in English “on”).
le tri:
- tri rhymes with “tree” but slightly shorter.
déchets:
- dé like dé- in dîner; chets pronounced shè /ʃɛ/.
- Final -ts is silent: dé-chè.
planète:
- stress on the last syllable in French: pla-NÈTE.
- Final -e is pronounced (unlike many French words).
Saying the whole thing slowly:
Dé-zor-mè, nou fə-zon lə tri dé-chè pour pro-té-jé la pla-nèt.