J’entends encore la sonnette d’un vélo, mais le klaxon du bus est beaucoup plus fort.

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Breakdown of J’entends encore la sonnette d’un vélo, mais le klaxon du bus est beaucoup plus fort.

• être: to be
• le bus: the bus
• mais: but

Questions & Answers about J’entends encore la sonnette d’un vélo, mais le klaxon du bus est beaucoup plus fort.

Why is it J’entends and not Je entends?

Because French usually drops e in je before a vowel or silent h. This is called elision.

• je + entends → j’entends
• je + écoute → j’écoute

This is very common in French:

• j’ai
• j’aime
• j’habite

Why is entends used here instead of écoute?

Because entendre means to hear, while écouter means to listen.

• entendre = to perceive a sound
• écouter = to actively listen to something

So J’entends encore la sonnette... means the speaker can still hear it, not that they are deliberately listening to it.

What does encore mean here?

Here, encore means still.

So:

• J’entends encore la sonnette = I can still hear the bell

But encore can also mean other things depending on context, such as: