Breakdown of La propriétaire dit que les charges sont comprises dans le loyer.
Sign up free — start using our AI language tutor
Start learning FrenchMaster French — from La propriétaire dit que les charges sont comprises dans le loyer to fluency
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods.
- ✓ Infinitely deep — unlimited vocabulary and grammar
- ✓ Fast-paced — build complex sentences from the start
- ✓ Unforgettable — efficient spaced repetition system
- ✓ AI tutor to answer your grammar questions
More from this lesson
Questions & Answers about La propriétaire dit que les charges sont comprises dans le loyer.
Literally, la propriétaire means the female owner. In a housing context, it often corresponds to the landlady in English.
A few useful points:
- le propriétaire = the male owner / landlord
- la propriétaire = the female owner / landlady
So the word can mean owner in a general sense, but in this sentence it most likely refers to the person renting out the property.
Because propriétaire is a noun that usually keeps the same spelling for both masculine and feminine. The article shows the gender:
- le propriétaire = masculine
- la propriétaire = feminine
So the change is in le / la, not usually in the noun itself.
Because the subject is la propriétaire, which is she / third person singular.
The verb dire (to say) is conjugated like this in the present tense:
- je dis = I say
- tu dis = you say
- il/elle/on dit = he/she/one says
So la propriétaire dit means the landlady says.
Que means that and introduces the second clause:
- La propriétaire dit que...
- The landlady says that...
In English, that is often optional:
- She says the charges are included
- She says that the charges are included
In French, que is normally required in this structure.
In rental French, les charges usually means service charges or building-related costs that come with the apartment.
Depending on the situation, it can include things like:
- water
- heating
- maintenance of common areas
- trash collection
- building fees
It does not usually mean charges in the sense of accusations or phone charges. In housing, les charges is a very common fixed expression.
Because French normally talks about these rental costs as a group of separate items, so it uses the plural: les charges.
That is very natural in French, even if English learners might expect something more like the service charge or utilities depending on context.
So:
- les charges = the charges / service charges / utilities-related costs
Because comprises agrees with les charges, which is feminine plural.
Here is the agreement:
- compris = masculine singular
- comprise = feminine singular
- compris = masculine plural
- comprises = feminine plural
Since charges is plural and feminine, French uses comprises.
So:
- les charges sont comprises = the charges are included
Yes. Comprises comes from the verb comprendre.
You may already know comprendre as to understand, but it also has another meaning: to include or to contain.
So in this kind of sentence:
- compris / comprise / comprises often means included
For example:
- Petit déjeuner compris = breakfast included
- Les charges sont comprises = the charges are included
So this is the same verb family, but used in a different sense.
French often expresses this idea with être + compris:
- Les charges sont comprises
- literally, the charges are included
This is very natural in notices, ads, and rental language.
Another possible way to say something similar would be:
- Le loyer comprend les charges = The rent includes the charges
Both are correct, but the sentence you have is especially common in housing contexts.
Because French uses dans to express the idea of something being included in an amount or package.
So:
- dans le loyer = in the rent
This is the natural preposition here. English also uses in:
- included in the rent
French usually needs an article before nouns much more often than English does.
So French says:
- dans le loyer
where English might say either:
- in the rent
- or simply in rent in a less standard phrasing
Using le here is completely normal and expected in French.
Not in this structure.
French normally needs que after a verb like dire when it introduces a full clause:
- La propriétaire dit que les charges sont comprises dans le loyer.
If you remove que, the sentence becomes ungrammatical.
The only way around it would be to change the structure completely, for example by quoting directly:
- La propriétaire dit : les charges sont comprises dans le loyer.
That is more like:
- The landlady says: the charges are included in the rent.
A rough pronunciation guide would be:
La propriétaire dit que les charges sont comprises dans le loyer
la pʁɔ-pʁi-e-tair dee kuh lay sharzh sohn kohn-preez dahn luh lwa-yay
A few quick notes:
- propriétaire has several syllables: pro-pri-é-taire
- dit sounds like dee
- charges sounds roughly like sharzh
- comprises ends with a z sound: kohn-preez
- loyer sounds roughly like lwa-yay
If you want to sound more natural, the rhythm matters too: La propriétaire / dit que / les charges sont comprises / dans le loyer.