Le secouriste voit à quel point Paul s’étouffe vite.

Paul

Breakdown of Le secouriste voit à quel point Paul s’étouffe vite.

• vite: fast, quickly (adverb)
• voir: to see
• à quel point: how (to what extent)

Questions & Answers about Le secouriste voit à quel point Paul s’étouffe vite.

Why is it Le secouriste and not just secouriste?

In French, singular countable nouns usually need an article.

So le secouriste means the first-aider / the rescuer / the emergency responder.

You would not normally say just secouriste by itself in a sentence like this, just as in English you would not usually say Rescuer sees... You would say The rescuer sees...

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What does à quel point mean here?

À quel point means something like:

• how much
• to what extent
• how
• just how

So voit à quel point Paul s’étouffe vite means the rescuer sees how quickly / to what extent Paul is choking.

It is a very common expression in French for emphasizing degree or intensity.

Examples:

• Tu ne sais pas à quel point je suis fatigué. = You don’t know how tired I am.
• Elle comprend à quel point c’est grave. = She understands how serious it is.

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Why is it s’étouffe instead of just étouffe?