Breakdown of Je vais relire le document une dernière fois avant de l’envoyer.
Questions & Answers about Je vais relire le document une dernière fois avant de l’envoyer.
Why is je vais relire used here instead of a simple future form like je relirai?
Je vais + infinitive is the near future in French. It is very common in everyday speech and often sounds more natural in conversation.
- Je vais relire = I’m going to reread
- Je relirai = I will reread
Both are correct, but they can feel slightly different:
- je vais relire often suggests a planned or imminent action
- je relirai can sound a bit more formal, neutral, or simply more written depending on context
So in this sentence, je vais relire is a very natural way to express an intention.
What exactly does relire mean, and how is it formed?
Relire means to reread.
It is built from:
- lire = to read
- prefix re- = again
So:
- lire = read
- relire = read again / reread
This is a common pattern in French:
- faire → refaire = do again / redo
- voir → revoir = see again
- prendre → reprendre = take again / resume
Also note that relire is conjugated like lire, so it is not a regular -er verb.
Why is there a le in le document?
French usually uses an article where English sometimes does too, and sometimes does not. Here le document simply means the document.
So:
- relire le document = reread the document
French generally requires an article before a noun unless there is another determiner already there, such as:
- mon document = my document
- ce document = this document
- un document = a document
You usually cannot just say relire document in standard French.
Why is it une dernière fois and not la dernière fois?
Une dernière fois means one last time.
This is an idiomatic expression:
- une dernière fois = one final time / one last time
By contrast, la dernière fois usually means the last time in the sense of the previous occasion.
Compare:
Je vais relire le document une dernière fois.
= I’m going to reread the document one last time.La dernière fois, j’ai oublié une erreur.
= Last time, I missed an error.
So une is used because it refers to one more final repetition, not to a past occasion.
Why does dernière come before fois here?
In French, most adjectives come after the noun, but some common adjectives often come before it. Dernier / dernière is one of them in many common expressions.
So:
- une dernière fois = one last time
This word order is standard and idiomatic. You should learn une dernière fois as a fixed expression.
Also, dernière agrees with fois, which is feminine singular:
- une = feminine singular article
- dernière = feminine singular adjective
- fois = feminine noun
Why is it avant de l’envoyer and not avant d’envoyer?
Both are possible in different contexts, but they do not mean exactly the same thing.
- avant d’envoyer le document = before sending the document
- avant de l’envoyer = before sending it
In your sentence, le document has already been mentioned, so French replaces it with the direct object pronoun le, which becomes l’ before a vowel.
So:
- le document → l’
- avant de l’envoyer = before sending it
This avoids repeating le document.
What does the l’ stand for in de l’envoyer?
The l’ stands for le, meaning it, and it refers back to le document.
So the structure is:
- le document = the document
- l’ = it
French direct object pronouns come before the infinitive when attached to it in a structure like this:
- avant de l’envoyer
- literally: before it sending
- natural English: before sending it
The apostrophe is used because le becomes l’ before a vowel sound:
- le envoyer → l’envoyer
This contraction is required.
Why is there de after avant?
Because avant de + infinitive is the normal structure for before doing something when the subject is the same.
In your sentence, the person doing both actions is je:
- Je vais relire...
- ...avant de l’envoyer
That is why French uses:
- avant de + infinitive
Examples:
- Je mange avant de partir. = I eat before leaving.
- Elle réfléchit avant de répondre. = She thinks before answering.
If the subject changes, French usually uses avant que + subjunctive instead:
- Je vais relire le document avant qu’il ne l’envoie.
= I’m going to reread the document before he sends it.
Why is the pronoun placed before envoyer instead of after it?
In French, object pronouns normally come before the verb they belong to.
So French says:
- l’envoyer = to send it
not:
- envoyer-le
That post-verb position is not used here.
A few comparisons:
- Je veux le voir. = I want to see it / him.
- Avant de le faire... = Before doing it...
- Je vais l’envoyer. = I’m going to send it.
This is one of the biggest differences from English word order.
Why is envoyer in the infinitive and not conjugated?
Because it follows avant de, and after de in this structure, French uses the infinitive.
So:
- avant de l’envoyer = before sending it
This is similar to English using the -ing form after before, but French uses the infinitive instead of a gerund here.
You can think of the pattern as:
- avant de + infinitive
Examples:
- avant de partir = before leaving
- avant de commencer = before starting
- avant de l’envoyer = before sending it
Is there anything tricky about the pronunciation of l’envoyer?
Yes, a couple of things may help:
- l’ links directly to envoyer
- the beginning sounds like lahn- rather than a fully separate le
- envoyer is pronounced roughly like ahn-vwa-yay
So l’envoyer sounds approximately like:
- lahn-vwa-yay
A few pronunciation points:
- en in envoyer is a nasal vowel
- -oyer is pronounced roughly -wa-yé
- the final r of the infinitive is silent
You do not pronounce l’ as a separate word the way you would in careful English speech.
Could the sentence also be written as Je vais relire une dernière fois le document...?
Yes, that is possible.
Both of these are grammatical:
- Je vais relire le document une dernière fois avant de l’envoyer.
- Je vais relire une dernière fois le document avant de l’envoyer.
The first version is often the more neutral and natural order here. It presents the object first, then adds une dernière fois as extra information.
The second version puts slightly more emphasis on one last time.
So the difference is mostly about rhythm and focus, not basic meaning.
More from this lesson
Sign up free — start using our AI language tutor
Start learning FrenchMaster French — from Je vais relire le document une dernière fois avant de l’envoyer 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