La locataire veut relire le bail avant de signer le contrat.

to want

Breakdown of La locataire veut relire le bail avant de signer le contrat.

• avant de: before
• signer: to sign
• relire: to reread
• le contrat: the contract
• le bail: the lease
• la locataire: the tenant

Questions & Answers about La locataire veut relire le bail avant de signer le contrat.

Why is it la locataire? Does locataire change for masculine and feminine?

Locataire is one of those French nouns that often has the same spelling for both genders. The article tells you whether the person is male or female:

• le locataire = a male tenant
• la locataire = a female tenant

So in this sentence, la shows that the tenant is female.

What form is veut?

Veut is the 3rd person singular present tense of vouloir (to want).

So:

• je veux = I want
• tu veux = you want
• il/elle veut = he/she wants

Here, la locataire veut means the tenant wants.

Why is relire in the infinitive after veut?

After vouloir, the next verb stays in the infinitive.

So French says:

• veut relire = wants to reread
• veut signer = wants to sign
• veut partir = wants to leave

This is similar to English wants to + verb, except French does not use a separate word for to here. The infinitive itself does the job.

What is the difference between lire and relire?

Lire means to read.

Relire means to read again, to reread, or sometimes to review by reading again.

The prefix re- often adds the idea of again:

• faire = to do

• refaire = to do again

• lire = to read
• relire = to reread

So relire le bail suggests the tenant has probably already seen the lease and wants to go over it again.

What exactly does bail mean here?

Un bail is a lease, especially a rental lease.

It is more specific than contrat, which is the general word for contract. A bail is a particular kind of contract related to renting property.

So:

• un contrat = a contract
• un bail = a lease / rental agreement

Why does the sentence use both le bail and le contrat? Aren’t they basically the same thing?

They can overlap, yes. A bail is a type of contrat.

Using both words can make sense because the speaker may be emphasizing two slightly different ideas:

• relire le bail = reread the lease document itself
• signer le contrat = sign the contract formally

In many real contexts, these may refer to the same legal document, just viewed from two angles: as a lease and as a contract. French often allows that kind of variation.

Why is it avant de signer and not just avant signer?

In French, when avant is followed by a verb in the infinitive, you normally use de:

• avant de partir = before leaving
• avant de manger = before eating
• avant de signer = before signing

So avant de + infinitive is the standard pattern.

Why is there no subject before signer?

Because the subject is understood to be the same as the subject of the main verb.

Here:

• La locataire veut relire le bail
• avant de signer le contrat

The person who wants to reread the lease is also the person who will sign the contract, so French uses avant de + infinitive without repeating the subject.

If the subject changed, French would usually use a different structure, often avant que + subjunctive:

• Elle veut relire le bail avant qu’il le signe.
• She wants to reread the lease before he signs it.

Why is it le bail and le contrat instead of un bail and un contrat?

French uses the definite article le / la / les when the thing is specific or understood from the context.

So here:

• le bail = the lease
• le contrat = the contract

This suggests a particular lease and a particular contract, not just any lease or any contract.

In a rental situation, that makes perfect sense: the tenant is talking about the specific lease/contract she is dealing with.

What tense is the sentence in?

It is in the present indicative.

The main verb is veut, which is present tense. In English, this would usually be translated with the simple present:

• The tenant wants to reread the lease before signing the contract.

Depending on context, French present can sometimes sound a bit broader than English present, but here the basic idea is straightforward.

How do you pronounce bail?

Bail is pronounced roughly like bye in English, though the exact French sound is a little different.

A rough guide to the whole sentence is:

La locataire veut relire le bail avant de signer le contrat
≈ la lo-ka-tair vuh ruh-leer luh bye ah-vahn duh seen-yay luh kohn-tra

A few pronunciation notes:

• locataire ends with a French r
• veut has the French vowel eu
• bail sounds like bye
• signer has gn = a sound like ny in canyon
• contrat has a nasal vowel in con

Could I say avant de signer le bail instead of avant de signer le contrat?

Yes, absolutely, if you want to keep the wording more consistent.

• relire le bail avant de signer le bail is grammatically correct
• relire le bail avant de signer le contrat is also correct

The version with contrat may sound a little less repetitive and slightly more formal or general, but both are natural depending on context.

Is the word order fixed, or could avant de signer le contrat go somewhere else?

The given word order is natural, but French does allow some movement.

Most natural:

• La locataire veut relire le bail avant de signer le contrat.

You could also front the time phrase for emphasis:

• Avant de signer le contrat, la locataire veut relire le bail.

That version puts more focus on the before signing idea. Both are correct.