Le secouriste aide la victime.

The first aider helps the victim.

Breakdown of Le secouriste aide la victime.

• aider: to help
• le secouriste: the first aider
• la victime: the victim

Questions & Answers about Le secouriste aide la victime.

What do le and la mean in this sentence?

They are definite articles, the French equivalent of the.

• le secouriste = the rescuer / the first-aider
• la victime = the victim

French articles change depending on the gender of the noun:

• le = masculine singular
• la = feminine singular
• les = plural

So here, secouriste is treated as masculine in this sentence, and victime is feminine.

Why is it aide and not aider?

Because aide is a conjugated verb, while aider is the infinitive.

The verb is aider = to help.

In this sentence, the subject is le secouriste, which is he/she/it in grammar terms, so French uses the 3rd person singular present form:

• j’aide = I help
• tu aides = you help
• il/elle aide = he/she helps

So Le secouriste aide la victime uses aide because it means helps.

Is the word order the same as in English?