Breakdown of Nous envoyons la réclamation par courriel.
Questions & Answers about Nous envoyons la réclamation par courriel.
What tense is envoyons, and can it mean both we send and we are sending?
Why is it nous envoyons?
Nous means we, and envoyons is the matching nous form of the verb envoyer (to send) in the present tense.
The present-tense forms are:
- j’envoie
- tu envoies
- il/elle/on envoie
- nous envoyons
- vous envoyez
- ils/elles envoient
A common thing learners notice is that envoyer changes spelling in some forms:
- j’envoie
- but nous envoyons
That is normal for this verb.
Why is it envoyons and not envoions?
Why is there la before réclamation?
Why is réclamation feminine?
What does par courriel mean, and why is par used?
Can I also say par e-mail or par mail?
Yes, depending on the variety of French.
- courriel is especially common in Canadian French and in more formal or recommended usage.
- e-mail and especially mail are very common in France in everyday speech.
So all of these may be understood:
- par courriel
- par e-mail
- par mail
If you want a safe, standard option, courriel is a good choice, especially in formal contexts.
Is nous necessary, or can French drop it like Spanish or Italian?
Why is par courriel placed at the end of the sentence?
How is réclamation pronounced?
A rough pronunciation is:
ray-kla-ma-syon
More precisely in IPA, it is: /ʁe.kla.ma.sjɔ̃/
A few useful points:
- ré- sounds like ray
- tion in French often sounds like syon
- the final n in -on is not pronounced as a full n sound; it nasalizes the vowel
So réclamation does not sound like the English word reclamation.
Could the sentence also be said with on instead of nous?
Yes, in everyday spoken French, many speakers use on instead of nous for we.
So you could hear:
This is very common in conversation.
However:
- nous is more formal or neutral in writing
- on is more common in casual speech
So the original sentence with nous is perfectly correct, especially in formal or written French.
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