Breakdown of Je voudrais refaire cette tarte dimanche.
Questions & Answers about Je voudrais refaire cette tarte dimanche.
Why does French use voudrais here instead of veux?
What form is voudrais exactly?
Voudrais is the first-person singular conditional form of vouloir.
That means:
- infinitive: vouloir = to want
- present conditional: je voudrais = I would like / I would want
In French, the conditional is often used to make statements sound less blunt, more tentative, or more polite.
Why is refaire in the infinitive?
After voudrais, the next verb stays in the infinitive.
So the pattern is:
- je voudrais + infinitive
Examples:
- Je voudrais manger. = I would like to eat.
- Je voudrais partir. = I would like to leave.
- Je voudrais refaire cette tarte. = I would like to make this tart again.
This is very common with verbs like vouloir, pouvoir, devoir, and similar verbs followed by another action.
What does refaire mean here?
Refaire literally means to do again or to make again.
It is built from:
- faire = to do / to make
- re- = again
So with food, refaire cette tarte usually means to make this tart again.
Depending on context, it could mean:
- to repeat a recipe you made before
- to remake it because it turned out well
- to redo it because the first one failed
Why is it cette tarte and not ce tarte?
Because tarte is a feminine singular noun, the demonstrative adjective must agree with it.
French demonstrative adjectives are:
- ce for masculine singular before most consonant sounds
- cet for masculine singular before a vowel or mute h
- cette for feminine singular
- ces for plural
So:
- ce gâteau
- cet arbre
- cette tarte
- ces tartes
Does cette always mean this?
Why is there no preposition before dimanche?
In French, a day of the week can appear without a preposition when it means on Sunday or this Sunday, depending on context.
So:
- dimanche = on Sunday / this Sunday
This is normal French.
You could also say:
- ce dimanche = this Sunday
That version is a bit more explicit.
Does dimanche here mean this Sunday or every Sunday?
Here, dimanche most naturally means on Sunday / this Sunday, referring to one specific Sunday.
If you want to say every Sunday or on Sundays in general, French usually uses:
- le dimanche
Compare:
- Je voudrais refaire cette tarte dimanche. = one Sunday
- Je refais cette tarte le dimanche. = on Sundays / every Sunday
So the absence or presence of le changes the meaning.
Why is dimanche placed at the end of the sentence?
French often puts time expressions at the end of the sentence, and that sounds very natural here.
So:
is a neutral, ordinary word order.
But French can also move the time expression for emphasis or style:
- Dimanche, je voudrais refaire cette tarte.
That is also correct. It just puts more focus on Sunday.
Could the speaker also say j’aimerais instead of je voudrais?
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