Je descends l’escalier doucement parce que ma cheville me fait mal.

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Breakdown of Je descends l’escalier doucement parce que ma cheville me fait mal.

• ma: my
• parce que: because
• descendre: to go down

Questions & Answers about Je descends l’escalier doucement parce que ma cheville me fait mal.

Why is it je descends with an -s at the end?

Because the verb is descendre and its present-tense je form is je descends.

Present tense:

• je descends
• tu descends
• il/elle/on descend
• nous descendons
• vous descendez
• ils/elles descendent

This is one of those verbs where the je and tu forms happen to look the same.

How is descends pronounced here? Do you pronounce the final -s?

No, the final -s is normally silent.

Je descends is pronounced roughly like zhuh day-SAHN.

A useful thing to know is that several forms of descendre sound the same:

• descends
• descend
• descendent

In normal speech, you usually tell them apart from the subject:

• je descends
• il descend
• ils descendent

Why does French say descendre l’escalier without a word for down?