Breakdown of Mets l’étiquette sur le grand carton avant de le fermer.
grand
big
sur
on
fermer
to close
avant de
before
Questions & Answers about Mets l’étiquette sur le grand carton avant de le fermer.
Why does the sentence start with Mets and not Tu mets?
Because this is a command. In French, commands use the imperative, and the subject pronoun is usually left out.
- Tu mets = you put / you are putting
- Mets ! = Put!
So Mets l’étiquette... means Put the label...
Here it is the tu form, so the speaker is talking to one person informally.
Why is it mets and not met?
The verb is mettre = to put.
In the imperative, the tu form of mettre is:
- mets
So:
- Mets l’étiquette = Put the label
This is something learners often notice because some -er verbs lose their final -s in the tu imperative, for example:
- Parle !
- Regarde !
But mettre is not an -er verb, so it keeps the -s:
- Mets !
- Prends !
- Ouvre !