Le pompier explique que de bons escaliers de secours sauvent souvent des vies.

The firefighter explains that good emergency staircases often save lives.

Breakdown of Le pompier explique que de bons escaliers de secours sauvent souvent des vies.

• souvent: often
• que: that
• expliquer: to explain
• bon: good
• la vie: the life
• le pompier: the firefighter
• l'escalier de secours: the emergency staircase
• sauver: to save

Questions & Answers about Le pompier explique que de bons escaliers de secours sauvent souvent des vies.

Why is it Le pompier and not Un pompier here?

Le pompier with the definite article le is being used in a general sense: it stands for “the firefighter (as a type / in general)”.

French often uses the singular with a definite article to talk about people or things in general:

• Le pompier explique que… → The firefighter (in general) explains that…
• Le médecin doit être à l’écoute. → Doctors must listen / A doctor must listen.
• L’enfant a besoin de dormir. → Children need to sleep.

You could also say:

• Un pompier explique que… → A firefighter explains that… (a specific, unnamed firefighter)
• Les pompiers expliquent que… → Firefighters explain that… (firefighters as a group)

But le pompier is a very natural way to express a general statement about that profession in French.

Does pompier mean “fireman” or “firefighter”? Is there a feminine form?

Pompier is the standard French word for firefighter. It is grammatically masculine:

• un pompier → a firefighter (grammatically masculine)
• le pompier → the firefighter

For a woman, there are a few possibilities in actual usage:

• une femme pompier – very common and neutral
• une pompière – exists and is understood, but is less common and can sound a bit marked or informal depending on region

So:

• un pompier / une femme pompier → a male / female firefighter

Why is it explique and not a past tense like a expliqué?

Explique is the present tense of expliquer (to explain).

The French present can cover both:

• He explains that… (present simple)
• He is explaining that… (present continuous)

So Le pompier explique que… can mean:

• The firefighter explains that…
• The firefighter is explaining that…

If the context were clearly in the past, you might see:

• Le pompier a expliqué que… → The firefighter explained that…
• Le pompier expliquait que… → The firefighter was explaining / used to explain that…

But in your sentence, it’s a general, present-time statement, so the simple present explique is appropriate.

Why is it explique que and not explique qui? What does que do here?

Here que is a conjunction meaning that introducing a full clause:

• Le pompier explique que… → The firefighter explains that…

In English, we often omit that:

• The firefighter explains that good fire escapes often save lives.
• The firefighter explains good fire escapes often save lives.

In French, you cannot drop que in this structure; it must stay:

• ✅ Le pompier explique que de bons escaliers de secours…
• ❌ Le pompier explique de bons escaliers de secours… (ungrammatical)

Qui is a relative pronoun, roughly who / which / that when it is the subject of the following verb:

• Le pompier qui parle → the firefighter who is speaking
• Les escaliers qui sauvent des vies → the stairs that save lives

Here we’re not describing pompier or escaliers; we’re reporting what he explains, so we need the conjunction que, not qui.

Should the verb after que be in the subjunctive? Why is it sauvent and not sauvent in the subjunctive form?

After explique que, French normally uses the indicative, not the subjunctive, because the content is presented as a fact:

• Le pompier explique que de bons escaliers de secours sauvent souvent des vies.

The subjunctive is used after verbs expressing doubt, desire, fear, emotion, necessity, etc. For example:

• Je doute que ces escaliers sauvent des vies. → I doubt these stairs save lives.
  (Here: sauvent is subjunctive, but it happens to look the same as the indicative form.)

With expliquer que, we don’t have that kind of emotion or doubt; we’re just reporting information. So the indicative is correct and standard.

Why is it de bons escaliers and not des bons escaliers?

This is a classic French rule:

When you have the indefinite plural article (des) and an adjective comes before the noun, des usually changes to de (or d’):

• de bons escaliers → literally of good stairs, meaning good stairways / good staircases
• de belles maisons → beautiful houses
• de nouveaux amis → new friends

Compare:

• des escaliers dangereux → adjective after the noun → des
• de dangereux escaliers → adjective before the noun → de

So here, because bons comes before escaliers, the correct form is de bons escaliers, not des bons escaliers in standard written French.

(In very informal spoken French, you might hear des bons escaliers, but you should learn and use de bons escaliers.)

What exactly does escaliers mean? Is it “stairs”, “staircase”, or “fire escape”?

Literally:

• un escalier → a staircase / set of stairs
• des escaliers → stairs / staircases

In escaliers de secours, it refers specifically to emergency stairways, typically fire escapes (external or internal stairs used in case of fire or emergency).

So:

• de bons escaliers de secours → good emergency stairways, i.e. good fire escapes

What does de secours mean? Why not just say escaliers d’urgence?

De secours literally means “for rescue / for help / for emergency use”. It’s very common in set expressions:

• sortie de secours → emergency exit
• numéro de secours → emergency number
• équipement de secours → emergency equipment

So escaliers de secours is the standard expression for emergency stairs / fire-escape stairs.

You could see escaliers d’urgence, and it would be understood, but escaliers de secours is more idiomatic and common in safety and architectural contexts.

Why is it bons escaliers and not something like beaux escaliers? What is the nuance of bon here?

In this context, bons escaliers de secours means effective / reliable / good-quality emergency stairways—stairways that do their job well and help save lives.

• bon / bonne often means good in function, quality, usefulness:

  • un bon médecin → a good (competent) doctor
  • un bon plan d’évacuation → a good evacuation plan

• beau / belle focuses more on appearance / beauty:

  • un bel escalier → a beautiful staircase (aesthetically pleasing)

Here, the focus is on safety and effectiveness, not beauty, so bons escaliers is the natural choice.

How does adjective and noun order work in de bons escaliers de secours?

The structure is:

• de bons escaliers de secours
  • de – plural indefinite article (after an adjective)
  • bons – adjective: good
  • escaliers – noun: stairs / staircases
  • de secours – post‑noun phrase: for emergency / emergency

In French, many common adjectives like bon, mauvais, petit, grand, beau, jeune, vieux often go before the noun:

• un bon escalier → a good staircase
• un grand escalier → a big staircase

Other adjectives typically come after the noun:

• un escalier sûr → a safe staircase
• un escalier métallique → a metal staircase

Here we have:

• bons before escaliers
• then an extra specification de secours after the noun to say what kind of stairs (emergency ones).

How do you pronounce de bons escaliers de secours? Is there a liaison?

Key points for pronunciation:

• de → like “duh”
• bons → nasal vowel: bon sounds like bohn (no audible final s on its own)
• escaliers → es-ka-lyé
• de secours → roughly duh sə-koor

There is a liaison between bons and escaliers:

• bons escaliers → pronounced [bõz‿eskalje]
  • the s in bons becomes a [z] sound linked to the following vowel.

So the middle of the phrase sounds like:

• de bon → [də bõ]
• zescaliers → [zeskalje]

Put together:

• de bons escaliers de secours → [də bõz‿eskalje də səkuʁ]

You don’t make a liaison after secours here: de secours finishes with a silent s.

What is the difference between sauvent and sauver? Why is it sauvent here?

Sauver is the infinitive: to save.

Sauvent is the 3rd person plural present tense:

• ils/elles sauvent → they save / they are saving

In the sentence:

• de bons escaliers de secours sauvent souvent des vies.
  • Subject: de bons escaliers de secours (they)
  • Verb: sauvent

So the agreement is:

• Les escaliers sauvent → The stairs save
• De bons escaliers sauvent → Good stairs save

If you used the infinitive sauver here, it would be ungrammatical because you need a conjugated verb after the subject, not an infinitive.

Why is the adverb souvent placed between sauvent and des vies? Where can souvent go?

In French, souvent (often) usually comes after the conjugated verb:

• Ils sauvent souvent des vies. → They often save lives.

Other possible positions:

1. Before the verb – more marked / emphatic:

   • Ils souvent sauvent des vies. → very unusual, sounds wrong in neutral French.

2. At the beginning or end of the sentence – for emphasis:

   • Souvent, ils sauvent des vies.
   • Ils sauvent des vies, souvent.

So in normal, neutral word order, sauvent souvent des vies (verb + adverb + object) is the most natural choice.

Why does it say des vies (lives) and not la vie (life)?

Des vies is the indefinite plural: lives (some lives, many lives).

In English we also say:

• Fire escapes often save lives.

French matches that:

• sauvent souvent des vies → often save lives.

If you said:

• sauvent souvent la vie → often save (the) life, which sounds like one generic life, and is not natural in this context.
• sauvent souvent les vies → often save the lives (specific, identified lives) – also strange here.

So des vies is the right choice to express the indefinite, plural idea: a number of people’s lives in general.