Le sablier mesure le temps du tour de jeu.

the time

Breakdown of Le sablier mesure le temps du tour de jeu.

• mesurer: to measure
• le sablier: the sand timer
• le tour de jeu: the turn in a game

Questions & Answers about Le sablier mesure le temps du tour de jeu.

What does sablier mean, and is it masculine or feminine?

Sablier means hourglass or sand timer.

It is masculine, so it takes le in the singular:

• le sablier = the hourglass
• un sablier = an hourglass

That is why the sentence starts with Le sablier.

Is mesure a verb here?

Yes. Here mesure is the verb mesurer in the present tense, third person singular:

• je mesure = I measure
• tu mesures = you measure
• il / elle / on mesure = he / she / one measures

Since the subject is Le sablier (singular), French uses mesure.

So:

• Le sablier mesure... = The hourglass measures...

Why is it le temps and not just temps?

French often uses the definite article where English may not.

Here, le temps means the time in a general but still grammatically definite way. French usually prefers the article in this kind of structure:

• mesurer le temps = to measure time / to measure the time

Even if English might sometimes say just measure time, French normally says mesurer le temps.

What does mean here? Could it also mean ?