Breakdown of Plus tard, ils écrivent un article sur les légendes du volcan pour le journal local.
Questions & Answers about Plus tard, ils écrivent un article sur les légendes du volcan pour le journal local.
Plus tard means later (on). It’s a vague time reference, like “later” in English, without saying when exactly.
Differences:
Plus tard = “later (on)”
- Very general.
- Often used to move the story forward: Plus tard, ils écrivent… = “Later, they write…”
Après = “after / afterwards / later”
- Often used with something specific: Après le déjeuner, ils écrivent… = “After lunch, they write…”
- On its own, Après, ils écrivent… is also possible and close in meaning to Plus tard, but plus tard emphasizes “a later moment in time” a bit more.
The comma after Plus tard is just like in English: Later, they write… — it marks a pause, but is not strictly mandatory.
French often uses the present tense for:
- Narration / storytelling (called the “présent de narration”)
- Talking about scheduled or almost certain future events
So:
- Plus tard, ils écrivent un article…
literally: Later, they write an article…
In natural English, we’d usually say: Later, they write / they are going to write / they will write…
You could say Plus tard, ils écriront un article…, which is a straightforward future tense (“they will write”), but with ils écrivent, the sentence feels more immediate, like you’re watching the events unfold.
Because écrire (to write) is irregular and must agree with the subject:
- je écris
- tu écris
- il / elle / on écrit
- nous écrivons
- vous écrivez
- ils / elles écrivent
So with ils, you must use écrivent, not écrit.
Écrit is:
- 3rd person singular present (il écrit)
- Or the past participle (il a écrit, “he wrote / has written”)
In French, article (meaning “newspaper article”) is masculine:
- un article = a / one article
- l’article = the article
- des articles = articles / some articles
You just have to memorize the gender with each noun. For article, always think un article.
Here, un article means “an article” (not a specific one we already know about), so the indefinite article un is correct.
In this context, sur means about:
- un article sur les légendes du volcan = an article about the legends of the volcano
So sur can mean:
- Physical on: sur la table = on the table
- Topic about: un livre sur la musique = a book about music
You could also say:
- un article au sujet des légendes du volcan
- un article concernant les légendes du volcan
…but sur is the most natural and common choice here.
Les légendes is plural because the sentence is talking about several legends related to the volcano.
- la légende du volcan = the (one) legend of the volcano
- les légendes du volcan = the (various) legends about the volcano
The plural suggests multiple stories, myths, or versions, which is typical when speaking of “legends” around a place.
Du is a contraction of de + le:
- de = of / from
- le volcan = the volcano
- de + le → du
So les légendes du volcan literally = the legends of the volcano.
This is a possessive / belonging structure: the legends that belong to or concern the volcano.
In this sentence, le journal local means the local newspaper.
Key meanings:
- un journal
- newspaper: J’achète le journal tous les matins. = I buy the newspaper every morning.
- diary / journal (more formal or in specific contexts)
But le journal local is a very common phrase for the local paper, i.e. the local newspaper that serves the community.
Both are possible, but the nuance is slightly different:
pour le journal local = for the local newspaper
- Emphasizes that they are writing on behalf of or for the benefit of this newspaper (as contributors, reporters, etc.).
dans le journal local = in the local newspaper
- Emphasizes where the article appears / is published.
So:
Ils écrivent un article pour le journal local.
They are writing it for that newspaper.L’article paraît dans le journal local.
The article appears in the local newspaper.
- le journal local = the local newspaper (a specific one, known in the context: probably “the” town’s paper)
- un journal local = a local newspaper (one among several possible local newspapers, not identified)
Here, le suggests there is one particular local newspaper that writer and reader both recognize from context (for example, the town’s main paper).
Most adjectives in French come after the noun:
- le journal local = the local newspaper
- une histoire intéressante = an interesting story
Some very common, short adjectives (BAGS: beauty, age, goodness, size) usually go before the noun:
- un petit journal (a small newspaper)
- un bon journal (a good newspaper)
But local does not belong to that small group, so it follows the noun:
- le journal local, not le local journal.
French word order is fairly flexible with adverbial phrases like plus tard and pour le journal local, but some options sound more natural than others.
Standard, natural:
- Plus tard, ils écrivent un article sur les légendes du volcan pour le journal local.
You could also say:
- Ils écrivent plus tard un article sur les légendes du volcan pour le journal local. (less common / marked)
- Ils écrivent, plus tard, un article… (very marked, often for stylistic or dramatic effect)
Moving pour le journal local:
- Plus tard, ils écrivent pour le journal local un article sur les légendes du volcan.
→ Grammatically correct, but sounds a bit heavy/formal.
The original order is the most natural and neutral for everyday written French.
Pronunciation tips:
Plus tard
- In this context (“later”), plus is usually pronounced [ply], with silent s.
- Plus tard ≈ [ply tar]
- tard = [tar] (the d is silent)
- In this context (“later”), plus is usually pronounced [ply], with silent s.
Liaison with ils écrivent
- ils écrivent = [ilz ekʀiv]
- There is a liaison: ils
- écrivent → [il‑zé‑criv]
Full chunk:
- Plus tard, ils écrivent… ≈ [ply tar, ilz ekʀiv] (in a careful pronunciation)