Nous avançons étape par étape.

we

Breakdown of Nous avançons étape par étape.

• avancer: to move forward
• par: by
• l'étape: the stage

Questions & Answers about Nous avançons étape par étape.

Why is it nous avançons and not just avançons?

French often allows the subject pronoun to be left out only in commands, not in normal statements. So in a regular sentence, you normally need the subject:

• Nous avançons = We are moving forward / We are progressing

By itself, Avançons ! would sound like a command:

• Let’s move forward!

So nous is needed here because this is a statement, not an instruction.

What tense is avançons?

Avançons is the present tense of avancer for nous.

It comes from:

• avancer = to move forward, to advance, to progress

Present-tense forms:

• j’avance
• tu avances
• il/elle avance
• nous avançons
• vous avancez
• ils/elles avancent

In French, the present tense can often translate both:

• we advance
• we are advancing

So Nous avançons can naturally cover both ideas depending on context.

Why is there a cedilla in avançons?