Le contrôle technique expire dans deux ans.

In this sentence, le contrôle technique usually refers to the official vehicle inspection required for a car. In British English, it is often similar to an MOT; in American English, you might think of it as a vehicle safety inspection.

So this is not just any technical check in a general sense. It is a fixed everyday expression in French, especially when talking about cars.

French normally needs an article in front of a noun, where English often does not.

So French says:

• Le contrôle technique expire...

where English might say:

• The inspection expires...
• or simply Vehicle inspection expires... in a note or label

The article le means the, so it suggests a specific inspection: the one being talked about.

French often uses the present tense to talk about the future when the time is clearly given.

Here, dans deux ans already tells you the action will happen in the future, so expire is completely natural.

Compare:

• Le contrôle technique expire dans deux ans. = The inspection expires in two years.
• Le contrôle technique expirera dans deux ans. = The inspection will expire in two years.

Both are possible. The present tense is very common and natural in everyday French.

Yes. Le contrôle technique expirera dans deux ans is grammatically correct.

The difference is mostly one of style:

• expire dans deux ans: very natural, everyday, direct
• expirera dans deux ans: a little more explicitly future, sometimes slightly more formal or written

French often prefers the present tense when a future time expression is already present.

Dans deux ans means in two years, counting from now.

It does not mean for two years.

This is an important distinction:

• dans deux ans = in two years / two years from now
• pendant deux ans = for two years
• depuis deux ans = for two years already / since two years ago

So:

• Le contrôle technique expire dans deux ans. = It expires two years from now.
• Le contrôle technique est valable pendant deux ans. = It is valid for two years.
• J’ai cette voiture depuis deux ans. = I’ve had this car for two years.

No, French does not need to add from now here. Dans deux ans already includes that idea.

So:

• dans deux ans = in two years / two years from now

If needed, French can add extra clarification, but it usually does not.

Mostly yes, in this context. Expirer can be used for things like documents, permits, subscriptions, inspections, and deadlines reaching their end.

Examples:

• Mon passeport expire bientôt.
• Le visa expire en janvier.
• Le contrôle technique expire dans deux ans.

One thing to know: expirer can also mean to breathe out in a scientific or medical context, and in older/literary language it can even mean to die. But in everyday administrative contexts, it simply means to expire / run out / reach the end of validity.

Expirer is correct and natural, especially in administrative or official contexts.

But French also uses other expressions, for example:

• arriver à expiration = to reach its expiration date
• ne plus être valable = to no longer be valid
• prendre fin = to come to an end

Examples:

• Le contrôle technique arrive à expiration dans deux ans.
• Le contrôle technique ne sera plus valable dans deux ans.

Still, expire is short, clear, and perfectly good here.

Because in French, expire here is a conjugated verb, not the infinitive.

The infinitive is expirer.

Here is the present tense:

• j’expire
• tu expires
• il/elle expire
• nous expirons
• vous expirez
• ils/elles expirent

Since le contrôle technique is singular, French uses il/elle expire, so the form is expire.

In English, we would say expires, but French does not add an s to this singular form.

Because the sentence is talking about one inspection.

• Le contrôle technique expire... = The inspection expires...

If it were plural, you would have:

• Les contrôles techniques expirent... = The inspections expire...

Notice that both the noun and the verb change in the plural:

• le contrôle technique expire
• les contrôles techniques expirent

Yes. In contrôle technique, technique is an adjective describing contrôle.

Literally, it is something like technical inspection/check, but as a fixed expression it refers specifically to the official inspection for a vehicle.

This is also a good reminder that in French, adjectives often come after the noun:

• contrôle technique
• inspection médicale
• document officiel

You can understand it that way literally, but it is usually not the best natural English translation.

A native English translation would usually be:

• vehicle inspection
• roadworthiness inspection
• MOT (in the UK)

So it is better to learn contrôle technique as a set phrase, not as a word-for-word translation.

A rough pronunciation is:

luh kohn-trohl tek-neek eks-peer dahn duh-zahn

A few useful points:

• contrôle has an ô sound like a long o
• technique ends with a pronounced k
• expire begins with a vowel sound, roughly eks-
• in deux ans, there is a liaison: deux-z-ans

So deux ans sounds like duh-zahn.

Yes. The circumflex in contrôle is part of the correct spelling.

French accents matter in writing, and sometimes they affect pronunciation or help distinguish words. Even when pronunciation is not dramatically different, you should learn the correct spelling:

• contrôle = inspection / control
• technique = technical

So it is best not to leave the accent out in careful writing.

In real-life usage, it can sometimes refer loosely to the validity of the inspection result, not just the physical act of inspection itself.

That happens in many languages: people often say the inspection expires, even though strictly speaking it is the validity or certificate that expires.

So the sentence is perfectly natural, even if the literal logic is slightly compressed.

Not really, at least not as the best choice.

Finir means to finish/end, but for documents, permits, validity periods, and official statuses, French usually prefers verbs like:

• expirer
• se terminer
• arriver à expiration
• cesser d’être valable

So expire is much more idiomatic here.

You could say:

• Le contrôle technique n’expire pas dans deux ans. = The inspection does not expire in two years.

Or, if you want a more natural alternative:

• Le contrôle technique n’arrive pas à expiration dans deux ans.

The basic negation pattern is:

• ne + verb + pas

So:

• expire → n’expire pas

There are two especially useful patterns here:

1. [thing] + expire + time expression

   • Mon passeport expire en mars.
   • La carte expire demain.

2. dans + amount of time

   • dans une semaine = in a week
   • dans six mois = in six months
   • dans deux ans = in two years

So you can build many similar sentences:

• Mon abonnement expire dans trois mois.
• Le visa expire dans un an.
• La garantie expire dans deux semaines.