L’employée du secrétariat me dit que mon dossier est complet.

Because employée begins with a vowel sound, la becomes l’ by elision.

• la employée → incorrect
• l’employée → correct

French often drops the final vowel of le or la before a word starting with a vowel or mute h.

Employée is the feminine form of employé.

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

Since the sentence is referring to a female office worker, French uses the feminine noun employée.

Du secrétariat means of the administrative office / from the office / from the secretariat.

It is made of:

• de + le = du
• secrétariat = secretariat, office, administrative department

So l’employée du secrétariat means something like the employee from the office or the administrative staff member.

Because secrétariat is masculine singular, and French contracts de + le into du.

• de le secrétariat → not used
• du secrétariat → correct

This contraction happens regularly:

• de + le = du
• de + les = des

In French, object pronouns usually come before the verb.

So:

• me dit = tells me

This is the normal order in French:

• subject + object pronoun + verb

Here:

• L’employée = subject
• me = indirect object pronoun
• dit = verb

So L’employée ... me dit literally follows the French pattern The employee ... to me says.

Me means to me here.

The verb dire often works like to say/tell in English, and in this sentence it is being used with an indirect object:

• Elle me dit... = She tells me...
• Il me dit... = He tells me...

So me is not the direct object; it means the information is being said to me.

Because dit is the third-person singular form of dire in the present tense.

Present tense of dire:

• je dis = I say
• tu dis = you say
• il/elle dit = he/she says
• nous disons
• vous dites
• ils/elles disent

Since the subject is L’employée, which is she, the correct form is dit.

Que means that and introduces the second clause.

• L’employée me dit que... = The employee tells me that...

It connects:

1. L’employée du secrétariat me dit
2. mon dossier est complet

In English, that is sometimes optional, but in French que is usually required in this structure.

Dossier can literally mean file or folder, but in many everyday contexts it means your application, case file, or paperwork.

So mon dossier est complet often means:

• my application is complete
• my file is complete
• all my required documents are there

The exact English translation depends on context.

Because dossier is a masculine noun.

• un dossier
• mon dossier

In French, possessive adjectives agree with the noun possessed, not with the owner.

So even if the speaker is female, it is still:

• mon dossier because dossier is masculine

Because complet agrees with dossier, and dossier is masculine singular.

• un dossier complet
• une demande complète

Even though employée is feminine, complet is not describing the employee. It describes dossier.

Est is the third-person singular form of être = to be.

So:

• mon dossier est complet = my file is complete

Because the subject is mon dossier (singular), French uses est.

It can mean either, depending on context.

French present tense often covers both:

• tells me
• is telling me

So L’employée du secrétariat me dit... could mean:

• The office employee tells me...
• The office employee is telling me...

English chooses between simple present and present progressive more often than French does.

A simple pronunciation guide would be:

lem-plwa-yay du seh-cray-ta-ree-ah me dee kuh mon doh-syay ay com-play

A few useful points:

• l’employée sounds like lemployée
• dit is pronounced dee
• que is usually pronounced kuh
• dossier sounds roughly like doh-syay
• the final t in complet is usually silent

The apostrophe shows that a vowel was dropped.

• la + employée → l’employée

This is called elision. French uses it to avoid awkward vowel clashes. You will see this often:

• l’école
• l’ami
• j’aime
• c’est

Not in this sentence structure.

After me dit, French normally needs que to introduce the statement:

• L’employée me dit que mon dossier est complet. → correct

Without que, the sentence would sound incomplete or ungrammatical in standard French.