Paul jette le dé.

Jeter is the infinitive, meaning to throw. In the sentence, the verb is conjugated for Paul, which is he / third person singular in the present tense.

So:

• jeter = to throw
• je jette = I throw
• tu jettes = you throw
• il / elle / on jette = he / she / one throws

Because Paul is the subject, French uses jette.

This is a spelling change that happens in the present tense for some forms of jeter. The extra t helps keep the right pronunciation.

Present tense of jeter:

• je jette
• tu jettes
• il/elle/on jette
• nous jetons
• vous jetez
• ils/elles jettent

Notice that nous and vous do not double the t, but the other forms do.

In French, nouns usually need an article more often than in English. Le is the masculine singular definite article, meaning the.

So:

• le dé = the die

French normally does not say just Paul jette dé. The article is needed here.

Because dé is a masculine noun in French. Singular masculine nouns usually take le in the definite form.

So:

• le dé = the die

If the noun were feminine, it would usually take la instead.

The accent in dé is an accent aigu: é. It affects pronunciation.

• é is pronounced like the ay sound in say, but shorter and cleaner.
• So dé sounds roughly like day.

The accent is part of the spelling and should not be omitted.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

Paul jette le dé
≈ Pol zhett luh day

More closely:

• Paul sounds like Pol
• jette sounds like zhett
• le often sounds like luh (or a very light lə)
• dé sounds like day

In natural speech, le dé can sound quite smooth together.

This is the normal French word order: subject + verb + object.

• Paul = subject
• jette = verb
• le dé = direct object

This is the same basic order as in English: Paul throws the die.

Yes. In French:

• un dé = a die
• des dés = dice

English often uses dice for both singular and plural in casual speech, but standard French clearly distinguishes singular and plural here.

Yes. The French present tense can often correspond to several English present forms depending on context, including:

• Paul throws the die
• Paul is throwing the die

Without more context, French jette can cover both.

Yes. You could replace Paul with il if it is already clear who you mean.

So:

• Paul jette le dé.
• Il jette le dé.

Both are grammatically correct. Il means he.

To make it negative in French, you usually put ne ... pas around the verb:

Paul ne jette pas le dé.

This means Paul does not throw the die or Paul isn't throwing the die.

There are several common ways:

• Paul jette le dé ?
  Rising intonation in speech

• Est-ce que Paul jette le dé ?
  Very common in everyday French

• Paul jette-t-il le dé ?
  More formal inversion style, using il for Paul

All of these can mean Is Paul throwing the die? or Does Paul throw the die? depending on context.