Le secouriste comprime la plaie.

The first aider compresses the wound.

Breakdown of Le secouriste comprime la plaie.

• le secouriste: the first aider
• la plaie: the wound
• comprimer: to compress

Questions & Answers about Le secouriste comprime la plaie.

Why are there two different words for the here: le and la?

French nouns have grammatical gender, so the definite article changes to match the noun.

• le secouriste = the first aider / rescuer with a masculine singular article
• la plaie = the wound with a feminine singular article

So le and la both mean the, but they agree with different nouns.

Is secouriste a masculine noun?

In this sentence, secouriste is masculine because it uses le.

But the noun itself can refer to either a man or a woman:

• le secouriste = the male first aider
• la secouriste = the female first aider

So secouriste is one of those profession nouns whose form often stays the same, while the article shows the gender.

Why is the verb comprime and not comprimer?

Comprimer is the infinitive, meaning to compress.

In the sentence, the verb has to be conjugated to match the subject le secouriste, which is third person singular, so you get:

• je comprime
• tu comprimes
• il / elle comprime
• nous comprimons
• vous comprimez
• ils / elles compriment

So Le secouriste comprime la plaie uses the correct present-tense form for he/she compresses.