Tu as quelqu’un à prévenir, ou pouvons-nous partir tout de suite ?

Tu is the singular, informal way to say you in French. It is used with friends, family, children, or people you know well.

If you wanted to say the same thing more formally, or to more than one person, you would use vous:

Vous avez quelqu’un à prévenir, ou pouvons-nous partir tout de suite ?

So the choice of tu tells you something about the relationship between the speaker and the person being addressed.

Quelqu’un means someone.

It comes from quelque un, but in modern French it is written as one fixed form: quelqu’un.

The apostrophe is just part of the spelling. You do not normally separate it into two words when using it this way.

Examples:

• Il y a quelqu’un à la porte. — There is someone at the door.
• Tu connais quelqu’un ici ? — Do you know someone here?

This is a very common French structure:

noun or pronoun + à + infinitive

Here, quelqu’un à prévenir literally means something like someone to warn / someone to notify.

It works like English someone to call, something to eat, nothing to do, etc.

Other examples:

• J’ai quelque chose à dire. — I have something to say.
• Tu as un travail à finir. — You have a job to finish.
• Nous n’avons rien à perdre. — We have nothing to lose.

So quelqu’un à prévenir is a natural and compact way to say someone you need to inform.

Yes. Quelqu’un que tu dois prévenir is also correct, and it means someone that you have to notify.

The difference is mainly style and structure:

• quelqu’un à prévenir = shorter, more compact
• quelqu’un que tu dois prévenir = more explicit

French often prefers the shorter à + infinitive structure when it sounds natural.

So:

• Tu as quelqu’un à prévenir ?
• Tu as quelqu’un que tu dois prévenir ?

Both are fine, but the first one is more idiomatic here.

Here, prévenir means to inform, to warn, or to let someone know, depending on context.

In this sentence, it usually means something like:

• to let someone know
• to notify someone
• to inform someone before leaving

For example:

• Préviens ta mère. — Let your mother know.
• Il faut prévenir le patron. — We need to inform the boss.

So it does not always mean a dramatic warning. Very often it simply means to tell someone in advance.

Both are possible, but they do not focus on exactly the same thing.

• Tu as quelqu’un à prévenir ? focuses on whether there is someone on your list of people to notify.
• Tu dois prévenir quelqu’un ? focuses more directly on whether you need to notify someone.

The version with avoir + noun + à + infinitive is very common in French and often sounds natural in everyday speech:

• J’ai des courses à faire.
• Tu as un email à envoyer.

So this sentence is asking, in a natural French way, whether the person has anyone they need to contact before leaving.

Pouvons-nous is the inverted form used to ask a question.

French has several ways to ask questions:

1. Inversion
   Pouvons-nous partir ?
   This is more formal or careful.

2. Est-ce que
   Est-ce que nous pouvons partir ?
   Very common and neutral.

3. Intonation only
   Nous pouvons partir ?
   More informal in speech.

So pouvons-nous is simply the question form of nous pouvons.

In French, when a question is formed by inversion, the verb and subject pronoun are joined with a hyphen.

So:

• pouvons-nous
• as-tu
• vient-il
• allez-vous

The hyphen is required in standard writing for this structure.

Because it comes after pouvoir.

In French, after a conjugated modal verb like pouvoir, vouloir, or devoir, the next verb usually stays in the infinitive:

• Nous pouvons partir. — We can leave.
• Tu veux manger ? — Do you want to eat?
• Je dois travailler. — I have to work.

So in pouvons-nous partir, only pouvons is conjugated. Partir stays in the infinitive.

Tout de suite means right away, immediately, or straightaway.

In this sentence, it means: Can we leave right away?

Be careful: in some contexts, learners may hear it as simply now, but it usually has the stronger sense of without waiting.

Examples:

• Je reviens tout de suite. — I’ll be right back.
• Fais-le tout de suite. — Do it right away.

Ou means or.

The sentence is offering two possibilities:

• Tu as quelqu’un à prévenir
  = Do you have someone to notify

ou

• pouvons-nous partir tout de suite ?
  = or can we leave right away?

So the speaker is basically asking: Do you need to contact someone first, or are we ready to go now?

Yes. In tu as, the s in as is pronounced because as is the verb avoir in the tu form.

It sounds roughly like:

• tu a

Also, in natural speech, there is often a liaison-like linking effect between tu and as, so it flows smoothly together.

A rough pronunciation guide:

• Tu as quelqu’un à prévenir
  ≈ tyu a kel-kun a pray-vuh-neer

Not exact English spelling, of course, but the important point is that as is pronounced.

It is a mix of informal and fairly polished language.

• Tu makes it informal, because it addresses someone familiarly.
• Pouvons-nous sounds more formal or careful than everyday spoken French.

In casual speech, many people would be more likely to say:

• Tu as quelqu’un à prévenir, ou on peut partir tout de suite ?
• Tu as quelqu’un à prévenir, ou est-ce qu’on peut partir tout de suite ?

So the sentence is absolutely correct, but the second half sounds a bit more formal than very relaxed conversation.