Je garde toujours mes clés dans mon sac pour ne pas les perdre.

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Breakdown of Je garde toujours mes clés dans mon sac pour ne pas les perdre.

• mon: my
• toujours: always
• pour ne ... pas: so as not to

Questions & Answers about Je garde toujours mes clés dans mon sac pour ne pas les perdre.

Why is garde used here? Does garder mean to guard?

In this sentence, garder means to keep or to keep/store something somewhere, not usually to guard in the English security sense.

So:

• Je garde mes clés dans mon sac = I keep my keys in my bag

Depending on context, garder can also mean:

• to keep
• to leave
• to look after / watch
• sometimes to guard

But here the natural translation is keep.

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Why is toujours placed after garde?

In French, short adverbs like toujours often come after the conjugated verb.

So:

• Je garde toujours mes clés...

This is the normal word order for I always keep my keys...

Compare:

• Je mange souvent ici. = I often eat here.
• Il arrive toujours en retard. = He always arrives late.

English often places always before the main verb, but French commonly puts toujours after the conjugated verb.

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Why is it mes clés and not ?