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Plus la rentrée approche, plus Marie se sent prête à commencer cette nouvelle étape.

Plus la rentrée approche, plus Marie se sent prête à commencer cette nouvelle étape.
The closer the start of the school year gets, the more ready Marie feels to begin this new stage.
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Questions & Answers about Plus la rentrée approche, plus Marie se sent prête à commencer cette nouvelle étape.

What does the plus ..., plus ... structure mean?

It means the more ..., the more ... in English. It shows that two things change together.

So:

Plus la rentrée approche, plus Marie se sent prête ...
= The closer the start of the school year gets, the more ready Marie feels ...

This is a very common French pattern: Plus tu अभ्यासes, plus tu progresses.
= The more you practice, the more you improve.

Why is plus repeated twice?

Because French uses plus ... plus ... to link the two parts of the comparison.

The first plus introduces the changing situation: Plus la rentrée approche = As the school year gets closer / The closer it gets

The second plus introduces the result or parallel change: plus Marie se sent prête = the more Marie feels ready

English does the same thing with the more ..., the more ...

Why isn’t there a que after plus here?

Because this is not the usual comparison pattern like plus grand que (bigger than).

There are two different uses:

  • plus ... que = ordinary comparison
    Marie est plus calme que Paul.
    = Marie is calmer than Paul.

  • plus ..., plus ... = correlative comparison
    Plus j’attends, plus je m’inquiète.
    = The more I wait, the more I worry.

So in your sentence, que would be wrong.

What exactly does la rentrée mean?

La rentrée is a very common French word. It usually refers to the period when people return after the summer break, especially:

  • the start of the school year
  • back-to-school season
  • sometimes the general return to normal work and activities in September

So here it most likely means the start of the school year or back-to-school time, not just a literal return.

Why is it approche and not s’approche?

Here, approcher is being used intransitively, meaning to get closer or to draw near:

La rentrée approche.
= The start of the school year is approaching.

That is normal French.

S’approcher usually means to move closer physically, often for a person or object: Marie s’approche de la porte.
= Marie moves closer to the door.

So in this sentence, approche is the natural choice.

What tense is the sentence in?

It is in the present tense:

  • approche
  • se sent

French often uses the present tense for something that is happening progressively or is generally true right now. Here, the idea is that as time passes and the school year gets nearer, Marie feels more and more ready.

So the present tense works very naturally.

Why does it say se sent instead of just sent?

Because the verb is se sentir, which is the usual French way to say to feel when talking about your state or condition.

Marie se sent prête.
= Marie feels ready.

This is a reflexive verb, so it uses a reflexive pronoun:

  • je me sens
  • tu te sens
  • il/elle se sent
  • nous nous sentons
  • vous vous sentez
  • ils/elles se sentent

English just says Marie feels ready, but French needs se here.

Why is it prête with an -e?

Because prêt/prête is an adjective, and adjectives usually agree with the person or thing they describe.

Here it describes Marie, who is feminine, so you use:

  • prêt for masculine
  • prête for feminine

So:

  • Paul se sent prêt.
  • Marie se sent prête.

If the subject were plural, it would change too:

  • Ils se sentent prêts.
  • Elles se sentent prêtes.
Why is there an à before commencer?

Because the French pattern is:

être prêt(e) à + infinitive
= to be ready to do something

So:

prête à commencer
= ready to start

More examples:

  • Je suis prêt à partir. = I’m ready to leave.
  • Elle est prête à essayer. = She’s ready to try.

The à is required with prêt(e) before an infinitive.

Why does French say cette nouvelle étape in that order?

French demonstratives and adjectives follow a different order from English.

  • cette = this
  • nouvelle = new
  • étape = stage/step/phase

In French, the demonstrative comes before the noun, and many common adjectives like nouveau/nouvelle also come before the noun:

cette nouvelle étape

English translates it as: this new stage not this stage new

So the French word order is completely normal.

Why is it cette and not cet?

Because étape is a feminine noun.

The demonstrative adjectives are:

  • ce for masculine singular
  • cet for masculine singular before a vowel sound
  • cette for feminine singular
  • ces for plural

Since étape is feminine, French uses cette étape.

Even though étape starts with a vowel, cet is only for masculine nouns, such as: cet homme = this man

Could this sentence be translated word-for-word into English?

Not very naturally. A very literal translation would sound awkward.

French: Plus la rentrée approche, plus Marie se sent prête à commencer cette nouvelle étape.

Natural English:

  • The closer the start of the school year gets, the more ready Marie feels to begin this new stage.
  • As the school year approaches, Marie feels more and more ready to begin this new stage.

So the grammar matches English in meaning, but not always word-for-word.

Is étape the same as step in English?

Often yes, but not always. Étape can mean:

  • step
  • stage
  • phase

In this sentence, cette nouvelle étape is probably better understood as this new stage or this new phase in life, not necessarily a single small step.

So it has a broader, more life-transition kind of feeling here.