Un guide touristique leur montre un ancien volcan près de la mer.

A tour guide shows them an old volcano near the sea.

Breakdown of Un guide touristique leur montre un ancien volcan près de la mer.

• près de: near
• montrer: to show
• la mer: the sea
• ancien: old
• leur: them
• le guide: the guide
• touristique: touristic
• le volcan: the volcano

Questions & Answers about Un guide touristique leur montre un ancien volcan près de la mer.

Why is it leur montre and not montre leur or montre à eux?

In French, unstressed object pronouns normally go before the conjugated verb, not after it.

• The verb is montre (he/she shows).
• leur is an indirect object pronoun meaning to them.

So the pattern is:

• montrer quelque chose à quelqu’un
  → to show something to someone

With pronouns:

• Un guide touristique leur montre un ancien volcan.
  = A tourist guide shows them an ancient volcano.

You cannot say:

• ❌ montre leur (wrong word order)
• ❌ montre à eux (too heavy / not idiomatic here)

À eux does exist, but is used for emphasis or contrast:

• Il le montre à eux, pas à nous.
  He shows it to them, not to us.

In the neutral sentence, you must use leur before the verb: leur montre.

Why is it leur and not leurs?

French has two different words that look similar:

1. leur (no s) = indirect object pronoun

   • meaning: to them
   • never takes an s
   • used before the verb
   • Example: Je leur parle. = I’m talking to them.

2. leur / leurs = possessive adjectives (their)

   • agrees in number with the noun that follows:
     
     • leur maison = their house (one house)
     • leurs maisons = their houses (several houses)

In your sentence, leur replaces à eux (to them), so it is the indirect object pronoun, which is always written leur, without s:

• Un guide touristique leur montre… = A tourist guide shows them…

Why is the verb montre singular? Shouldn’t it be montrent because of leur (them)?

The verb agrees with the subject, not with the object.

• Subject: Un guide touristique (one guide → 3rd person singular)
• Verb: montre (3rd person singular of montrer)
• Indirect object: leur (to them, plural people, but that doesn’t affect the verb form)

So:

• Un guide touristique leur montre… ✅
• Un guide touristique leur montrent… ❌ (wrong: verb can’t be plural here)

If the subject were plural, then the verb would be plural:

• Des guides touristiques leur montrent un ancien volcan.
  Tourist guides show them an ancient volcano.

What is the difference between leur and eux?

Both can refer to them, but they are used in different structures.

• leur = weak indirect object pronoun, used before the verb:

  • Je leur montre le volcan. = I show them the volcano.

• eux = strong (stressed) pronoun, used mainly:

  • after prepositions: avec eux (with them), pour eux (for them)
  • for emphasis or contrast: C’est pour eux. (It’s for them.)

You would say:

• Neutral: Un guide touristique leur montre un ancien volcan.
• Emphatic: Un guide touristique montre un ancien volcan à eux, pas à nous.

In the normal, non-emphatic sentence, leur is the correct choice.

Can guide touristique be female? Why is it un guide and not une guide?

The noun guide is grammatically masculine by default, but it can refer to a man or to a woman:

• un guide touristique = a (male or female) tourist guide, grammatically masculine
• une guide touristique = also possible, used by some speakers to make the feminine explicit

In practice:

• You will very often see un guide touristique used even if the guide is a woman; the context or pronouns (like elle) will show the person is female.
• Some speakers and organizations prefer une guide for a woman, as part of making job titles gender‑inclusive.

The adjective touristique does not change form for masculine/feminine:

• un guide touristique
• une guide touristique

Both are grammatically correct.

What is the difference between touriste and touristique?

• touriste is a noun: a person who is a tourist.

  • un touriste / une touriste = a tourist

• touristique is an adjective: related to tourism.

  • une attraction touristique = a tourist attraction
  • un guide touristique = a tourist guide (a guide for tourists)

So guide touriste would be wrong; you need the adjective touristique to describe the type of guide.

Why is it un ancien volcan and not un volcan ancien? Does the position of ancien change the meaning?

Yes, the position of ancien can change the nuance of meaning.

When ancien comes before the noun, it often means former (no longer the same as before):

• un ancien volcan
  → a former volcano / an old volcano (often understood as an extinct volcano)

When ancien comes after the noun, it tends to mean ancient, very old in age:

• un volcan ancien
  → a volcano that is ancient/very old (emphasis on age as an old object)

In real usage, with volcan, un ancien volcan is what people usually say when they mean a volcano that is no longer active (an extinct or dormant volcano). Saying un volcan ancien would sound more technical or literary and really highlight age.

How does près de la mer work? Why do we need de and la?

près de is a fixed preposition meaning near / close to. It is always followed by de + noun:

• près de la mer = near the sea
• près du volcan (de + le → du) = near the volcano
• près des montagnes (de + les → des) = near the mountains

So you cannot say:

• ❌ près la mer (missing de)
• ❌ près de mer (missing the article)

You must include both de and the appropriate definite article:

• de la for feminine singular nouns (la mer)
• du for masculine singular nouns (le volcan)
• des for plural nouns (les montagnes)

Why is it un ancien volcan and not d’un ancien volcan after montre?

The verb montrer uses a direct object for the thing being shown:

• montrer quelque chose à quelqu’un
  → to show something to someone

So the structure is:

• montrer + direct object (no preposition) + à + indirect object

In your sentence:

• Direct object (what is shown): un ancien volcan
• Indirect object (to whom): leur (à eux)

So we say:

• Un guide touristique leur montre un ancien volcan.

You would only use de / d’ if another structure required it, for example:

• parler d’un ancien volcan = to talk about an ancient volcano
• se souvenir d’un ancien volcan = to remember an ancient volcano

But with montrer, you do not put de before the thing being shown.

How would you say “is showing them” or “showed them”? Why just montre?

French doesn’t distinguish between simple present and present continuous as English does.

So:

• Un guide touristique leur montre un ancien volcan. can mean:
  • A tourist guide shows them an ancient volcano.
  • A tourist guide is showing them an ancient volcano.

Context tells you which English version is best.

For the past, you would change the tense of montrer:

• Passé composé (completed action in the past):
  • Un guide touristique leur a montré un ancien volcan.
    A tourist guide showed them / has shown them an ancient volcano.

The rest of the sentence stays the same; only the verb tense changes.

How would you replace both un ancien volcan and leur with pronouns?

The verb montrer takes:

• a direct object (what is shown)
• an indirect object (to whom)

In your sentence:

• Direct object: un ancien volcan
• Indirect object: leur (to them)

Direct object pronoun for un ancien volcan (masculine singular) is le.
Indirect object pronoun stays leur.

When you use two object pronouns before the verb, French has a fixed order:

1. me / te / nous / vous
2. le / la / les
3. lui / leur

So:

• Le guide le leur montre.
  The guide shows it to them.

Here:

• le = the (old) volcano
• leur = to them

Word order must be le leur montre, not leur le montre.

Are there any important liaisons or pronunciation points in this sentence?

Yes, a few useful ones:

• Un ancien → liaison: the normally silent -n in un is pronounced and links to ancien:
  /œ̃‿nɑ̃.sjɛ̃/
• guide touristique:
  
  • guide ends in a pronounced /d/ in careful speech: /gid/
  • touristique: -stique is /stik/, not like English “stick.”
• volcan: final -n is pronounced; the -c- is /k/: /vɔl.kɑ̃/
• près de:
  
  • près has a closed /e/ sound, similar to “preh”; final -s is silent: /prɛ/
  • In fast speech, près de la can sound like /prɛ.dla/.

So a natural, slightly simplified pronunciation would be roughly:

• [œ̃ ɡid tu.ʁis.tik lœʁ mɔ̃tʁ œ̃.nɑ̃.sjɛ̃ vɔl.kɑ̃ prɛ də la mɛʁ]