Breakdown of Je mets mon téléphone dans ma poche quand je marche dans le parc.
Questions & Answers about Je mets mon téléphone dans ma poche quand je marche dans le parc.
Mettre is a very common French verb that mainly means “to put” or “to place”.
In je mets, it’s conjugated in the present tense, first person singular (I put).
Mettre is irregular, so the stem changes:
- je mets
- tu mets
- il/elle/on met
- nous mettons
- vous mettez
- ils/elles mettent
In this sentence, Je mets mon téléphone… literally means “I put my phone…”, which matches the English idea of putting/placing your phone somewhere.
The choice between mon, ma, and mes depends on the grammatical gender and number of the noun, not on who owns it.
- téléphone is masculine singular, so you use mon téléphone.
- poche is feminine singular, so you use ma poche.
- If it were plural, you’d use mes for both genders: mes téléphones, mes poches.
So:
- mon = my (before masculine singular nouns, and also before feminine nouns starting with a vowel sound)
- ma = my (before feminine singular nouns starting with a consonant)
- mes = my (before all plurals)
Both are possible, but the nuance is slightly different:
- dans le parc = inside the park, with more emphasis on being within the physical space of the park.
- au parc (from à + le parc) = more like “at the park / to the park”, a bit less specific about being inside vs near, but very natural in everyday speech.
In many contexts, both can work, but:
- If you want to stress being inside the park, dans le parc is more precise.
- In casual speech, people often say au parc when talking about going there or being there in general.
In French, mettre is not reflexive when you put an object somewhere. You simply say:
- Je mets mon téléphone dans ma poche.
A reflexive structure like Je me mets… would mean “I put myself…”, which is wrong here.
Reflexive se mettre is used for things like:
- Je me mets à marcher. = I start walking.
- Je me mets devant la télé. = I place myself in front of the TV.
But for putting an object (phone, keys, bag) somewhere, you just use mettre with a direct object:
- Je mets mon sac sur la table.
- Je mets mes clés dans mon sac.
French usually uses the simple present for both “I walk” and “I am walking”:
- Je marche can mean either “I walk” or “I am walking”, depending on context.
There is a way to emphasize “I am in the middle of doing this right now”:
- Je suis en train de marcher dans le parc. = I am (in the process of) walking in the park.
But in most everyday situations, je marche is enough and is the normal choice.
Yes, you could say:
- Je mets mon téléphone dans ma poche lorsque je marche dans le parc.
Quand and lorsque often both mean “when”, and in many contexts they are interchangeable.
Differences:
- quand is more common and neutral in everyday speech and writing.
- lorsque sounds a bit more formal or literary, and you’ll see it more often in written French (literature, formal texts).
In this simple, everyday sentence, quand is more natural.
There is no general rule that tells you the gender of most French nouns; you usually have to learn it with the word.
- un téléphone → masculine
- une poche → feminine
Some word endings give hints (e.g. many nouns ending in -tion are feminine), but -phone words (téléphone, microphone, etc.) are typically masculine, and you learn them case by case.
When you learn a new noun, it’s good to learn it with its article:
- un téléphone (m.)
- une poche (f.)
Yes, that’s very common. In everyday French:
- un téléphone portable = a mobile phone
- un portable (by itself) very often means “mobile phone” or “cell phone”.
So you can say:
- Je mets mon téléphone dans ma poche…
- Je mets mon portable dans ma poche…
Both are natural. Portable is just more colloquial/shortened, like saying “my phone” instead of “my mobile phone”.
You can say dans la poche, but it tends to mean “in the pocket” in a more general or specific-context sense (for example, the pocket you just mentioned), not necessarily your own pocket.
For body parts and clothes in French, you often see the definite article (le / la / les) when the owner is already clear and the verb is reflexive:
- Je mets mes mains dans les poches. (my hands in my pockets)
- Je me mets les mains dans les poches.
But in your sentence, since the subject is not reflexive and we want to be clear that it’s my pocket, using the possessive ma poche is perfectly natural and probably the clearest choice.
For something that is inside a physical space or container, French normally uses dans:
- dans ma poche = in / inside my pocket
- dans mon sac = in my bag
- dans la boîte = in the box
À is not used this way; you wouldn’t say à ma poche.
En can sometimes translate as “in,” but not for this kind of literal, physical “inside a container” idea. So:
- Je mets mon téléphone dans ma poche is the correct, natural form.
You make the noun plural and match the possessive:
- Singular: ma poche = my pocket
- Plural: mes poches = my pockets
So the sentence becomes:
- Je mets mon téléphone dans mes poches quand je marche dans le parc.
However, that sounds a bit odd in meaning (you can’t really put one phone in both pockets at the same time). More natural plurals would be for things like:
- Je mets mes mains dans mes poches.
Mon téléphone is a masculine singular direct object, so the pronoun is le.
The pronoun goes before the conjugated verb:
- Je mets mon téléphone dans ma poche.
- Je le mets dans ma poche. = I put it in my pocket.
With negation:
- Je ne le mets pas dans ma poche. = I don’t put it in my pocket.
This word order (pronoun before the verb) is very important in French.
Mets is pronounced /mɛ/, like the English “meh”:
- The t is silent.
- The final s is also silent.
- It sounds exactly the same as mes (my, plural) and mais (but).
So Je mets mon téléphone… is pronounced roughly like: “Je meh mon téléphone…”.