Learn Hardcore French: Ces panneaux solaires produisent de l'électricité même quand il fait froid. - These solar panels produce electricity even when it is cold.

Ces panneaux solaires produisent de l'électricité même quand il fait froid.

These solar panels produce electricity even when it is cold.

Breakdown of Ces panneaux solaires produisent de l'électricité même quand il fait froid.

Elon.io is an online learning platform

We have an entire course teaching French grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning French now

Questions & Answers about Ces panneaux solaires produisent de l'électricité même quand il fait froid.

Why is it “ces panneaux solaires” and not something like “ce panneau solaire”?

French has different forms of “this/that / these/those” (demonstrative adjectives) that must agree in gender and number with the noun.

ce – masculine singular before a consonant: ce panneau (this/that panel)
cet – masculine singular before a vowel or mute h: cet homme
cette – feminine singular: cette voiture
ces – plural (masculine or feminine): ces panneaux (these/those panels)

In the sentence, you’re talking about more than one solar panel, so you must use the plural form:

ces panneaux solaires = these/those solar panels

Why is the plural of “panneau” written “panneaux” and not “panneaus”?

French has a spelling rule for nouns ending in -eau:

Most nouns ending in -eau form the plural with -eaux, not -eaus.

Examples:

un bateau → des bateaux (boats)
un chapeau → des chapeaux (hats)
un panneau → des panneaux (panels, signs)

The x is silent; you don’t pronounce it. The plural is heard mainly through context or the verb agreement (produisent).

Why is it “panneaux solaires” and not “solaires panneaux” like in English “solar panels”?

In French, most adjectives come after the noun, unlike English.

English: solar panels
French: panneaux solaires

“solaire” here is an adjective meaning “solar” and must follow the noun panneaux.

Also, the adjective must agree in gender and number:

un panneau solaire (singular, masculine)
des panneaux solaires (plural, masculine → add -s)

So:

panneaux solaires (correct)
solaires panneaux (incorrect word order)

Why is the verb “produisent” and not “produit”?

The verb produire (to produce) has to agree with the subject:

Subject: Ces panneaux solaires → they, third person plural.
Present tense of produire:
- je produis
- tu produis
- il/elle/on produit
- nous produisons
- vous produisez
- ils/elles produisent

So you need the third person plural form: produisent.

Note: the ending -ent is not pronounced; produit and produisent sound the same in normal speech. The difference is visible only in writing and through context (the plural subject).

Why is it “de l’électricité” and not just “l’électricité” or “de l’electricité”?

There are two points here: the article type and the elision (l’).

Article type: “de l’” (partitive)
French uses a partitive article (de + article) for indefinite uncountable things (like “some” electricity, water, bread):

du (de + le): masculine singular before consonant
de la: feminine singular before consonant
de l’: before a vowel sound, masculine or feminine
des: plural

Électricité is feminine and uncountable here, and it starts with a vowel sound, so:

de + l’ → de l’électricité = “(some) electricity”

If you said l’électricité alone (with definite article la), it would mean “the electricity” in a more general or specific sense, not “they produce electricity” as a substance.

Elision: “de l’électricité” and not “de la électricité”
Because électricité begins with a vowel sound, la contracts to l’:

de la
- électricité → de l’électricité

So “de l’électricité” is the grammatically normal way to say “(some) electricity” here.

Why is it “de l’électricité” and not “de électricité” or “d’électricité”?

You always need both parts: de + article (here, l’):

de + le → du
de + la → de la
de + l’ → de l’
de + les → des

Since électricité is feminine and starts with a vowel sound, the correct form of the article is l’:

de + l’ = de l’électricité

Writing de électricité ignores the article, and d’électricité would usually come from de + électricité after elision of e (as in beaucoup d’électricité), but here we want the partitive article, so it must be de l’électricité.

Why is it “même quand il fait froid” and not “même si il fait froid” or “quand même il fait froid”?

The three expressions have different uses:

même quand = even when
- Introduces a time or situation:
  - même quand il fait froid = even when it’s cold (out)
    This fits the idea: solar panels produce electricity even in the situations when it is cold.
même si = even if / even though
- Introduces a condition or a concession:
  - même s’il fait froid, ils produisent de l’électricité
    = even if / even though it’s cold, they produce electricity.
    You could rewrite the sentence using même si, but the structure must change:
- Ces panneaux solaires produisent de l’électricité même s’il fait froid.
  This is grammatical and very natural.
quand même = anyway / all the same / still
- Usually appears after the verb or in a different position, not before quand:
  - Il fait froid, mais ils produisent quand même de l’électricité.
    = It’s cold, but they still produce electricity.

So “même quand il fait froid” is correct and natural for “even when it is cold.”

Why do we say “il fait froid” and not “il est froid” or “c’est froid” for the weather?

French uses a special set of expressions with faire to talk about weather:

il fait froid = it’s cold (weather)
il fait chaud = it’s hot
il fait beau = it’s nice (weather)
il fait mauvais = the weather is bad

Using être changes the meaning:

il est froid – usually means he/it is cold in a personal or physical sense (e.g., a person or an object is cold in temperature or character).
c’est froid – this/that is cold (pointing to a specific thing: the soup, the room, etc.)

When you talk about general weather, you almost always use il fait + adjective:

il fait froid = it’s cold outside / as weather.

Who or what is the “il” in “il fait froid”? Does it refer to something?

Here, “il” is an impersonal pronoun. It doesn’t refer to any person or object; it’s just required grammatically.

French often uses impersonal “il” in weather expressions and some fixed phrases:

il pleut – it’s raining
il neige – it’s snowing
il fait froid – it’s cold
il est tard – it’s late

In these cases, there is no real subject like “he” or “it” in English; “il” is just a placeholder so the verb can be conjugated.

Could we say “lorsqu’il fait froid” instead of “quand il fait froid”?

Yes. lorsque and quand often mean the same thing: “when” (in the sense of “at the time when”).

So you can say:

Ces panneaux solaires produisent de l’électricité même lorsqu’il fait froid.

It’s correct and a bit more formal or literary than quand. In everyday speech, quand is more common, but both are fine here.

How is the whole sentence pronounced, especially the silent letters and links?

Sentence: Ces panneaux solaires produisent de l’électricité même quand il fait froid.

Approximate pronunciation (using English-like hints):

Ces → /se/ (like “seh”)
panneaux → /pa-no/ (no x sound)
solaires → /so-lɛr/ (final s is silent)
produisent → /pro-dɥiz/ (final -ent silent)
de l’électricité → /də le-lek-tri-si-te/ (the l’ is attached: de-le…)
même → /mɛm/ (like “mem”)
quand → /kɑ̃/ (final d silent, nasal vowel)
il → /il/
fait → /fɛ/ (final t silent)
froid → /frwa/ (final d silent)

Spoken smoothly (with natural linking):
[se pa-no so-lɛr pro-dɥiz də le-lek-tri-si-te mɛm kɑ̃ til fɛ frwa].