L'employé du secrétariat vérifie mon dossier.

The office employee checks my file.

Breakdown of L'employé du secrétariat vérifie mon dossier.

• mon: my
• du: of the
• vérifier: to check
• le secrétariat: the office
• l'employé: the employee
• le dossier: the file

Questions & Answers about L'employé du secrétariat vérifie mon dossier.

Why is it l'employé and not le employé?

French avoids a clash of vowels here. Le becomes l' before a word that starts with a vowel or a mute h.

So:

• le employé ❌
• l'employé ✅

This is called elision. The same thing happens in phrases like:

• l'école
• l'hôtel
• l'ami

Why does du secrétariat mean of/from the secretariat/office, and not de le secrétariat?

Because de + le contracts to du in French.

So:

• de le secrétariat → du secrétariat

This contraction is required in normal French.

A few common contractions are:

• de + le = du
• de + les = des
• à + le = au
• à + les = aux

So l'employé du secrétariat literally has the structure the employee of the office/administrative department.

What exactly does secrétariat mean here?

In this kind of sentence, secrétariat usually refers to an administrative office, school office, department office, or secretarial department, not necessarily a political secretariat in the English sense.

So du secrétariat often means something like:

• from the office
• from the administrative office
• from the secretarial department

The exact English translation depends on context.

Why is the verb vérifie and not vérifier?

Vérifier is the infinitive, meaning to check or to verify.

In the sentence, the verb is conjugated to match the subject l'employé, which is third person singular: he/she checks.

Present tense of vérifier:

• je vérifie
• tu vérifies
• il / elle vérifie
• nous vérifions
• vous vérifiez
• ils / elles vérifient

So l'employé du secrétariat vérifie... means the employee checks...

Why is there no word for is before vérifie?

Because vérifie already means checks / is checking depending on context.

French often uses the simple present where English might use either:

• checks
• is checking

So vérifie can correspond to either one in natural English, depending on the situation.

Why is it mon dossier and not ma dossier?

Because dossier is a masculine noun.

In French, possessive adjectives agree with the gender and number of the thing possessed, not with the owner.

So:

• mon dossier = my file/record
• ma voiture = my car
• mes documents = my documents

Even if the speaker is female, it is still mon dossier, because dossier is masculine.

What does dossier mean exactly?

Dossier often means a file, record, case file, or application file, depending on context.

It does not always mean a physical folder. It can also refer to:

• a student record
• an administrative file
• an application
• a case record

So learners should not assume it always means a paper folder sitting on a desk.

Does employé mean a male employee? What if the employee is a woman?

Yes, employé is the masculine form. The feminine form is employée.

• un employé = a male employee
• une employée = a female employee

Because this sentence has l', you cannot tell from the article alone whether it is masculine or feminine, since both become l' before a vowel:

• l'employé
• l'employée

In writing, the final -e in employée shows the feminine form.

Why is the word order subject + verb + object here?

Because this is a normal straightforward French statement, and French word order is often similar to English in basic sentences:

• L'employé du secrétariat = subject
• vérifie = verb
• mon dossier = direct object

So the structure is:

The employee + checks + my file

This is one reason the sentence feels relatively familiar to English speakers.

Is du secrétariat the same as saying who works in the office?

Not exactly, but it is closely related.

du secrétariat literally means of/from the office/administrative department, and it identifies which employee we mean.

Depending on context, English might translate it in several ways:

• the office employee
• the employee from the office
• the administrative staff member
• the employee in the office

So the French phrase is not always translated word-for-word.

How is vérifie pronounced, and why is there an accent in vérifie?

The accent in vérifie is an accent aigu: é.

It shows that the vowel is pronounced like ay in a short, clear way, not like a silent e.

So:

• vérifier
• vérifie

both keep that é sound at the start.

A rough pronunciation of vérifie for an English speaker is:

• veh-ree-fee

The accent is part of the spelling and should not be omitted in correct French writing.

How would I pronounce the whole sentence naturally?

A rough guide for an English speaker is:

L'employé du secrétariat vérifie mon dossier
lahm-plwah-yay duh suh-cray-tah-ree-ah veh-ree-fee mohn doh-see-ay

A few helpful notes:

• L'employé flows together because of the elision.
• du is pronounced roughly like dyu or duh depending on how detailed the approximation is.
• mon has a nasal vowel; English does not have an exact equivalent.
• dossier ends with a sound like yay.

If you want to sound more natural, it is best to hear the sentence spoken by a native speaker and repeat it as a chunk.

Could I replace vérifie with contrôle?

Sometimes yes, but the nuance can change.

• vérifie = checks, verifies, makes sure something is correct
• contrôle = checks, inspects, monitors, examines more formally or more strictly

For an administrative file, vérifie is very natural if someone is checking that the information is correct or complete.

So vérifie mon dossier suggests reviewing or verifying the file, while contrôle mon dossier can sound a bit more formal or more like inspection.