Quand l’appartement est trop bruyant, Marie travaille soit à la bibliothèque, soit chez sa sœur.

to be

Breakdown of Quand l’appartement est trop bruyant, Marie travaille soit à la bibliothèque, soit chez sa sœur.

• Marie: Marie
• travailler: to work
• à: at

Questions & Answers about Quand l’appartement est trop bruyant, Marie travaille soit à la bibliothèque, soit chez sa sœur.

Does quand here mean when or whenever?

In this sentence, quand is best understood as whenever as well as when. Because the verb is in the present tense and describes a repeated situation, the idea is habitual:

• each time the apartment is too noisy,
• Marie works in one of those two places.

So an English speaker often hears a sense of whenever here, even though French still uses quand.

Why is there a comma after bruyant?

The part beginning with quand is a subordinate clause placed first in the sentence. French often separates that kind of introductory clause from the main clause with a comma.

So the structure is:

• Quand l’appartement est trop bruyant, = background situation
• Marie travaille... = main information

You may sometimes see short sentences without a comma, but here the comma is very natural and helps readability.

Why is it l’appartement and not le appartement?