Preparing for a meeting | Learn French in English

Sentence explanations

1. Les notes de la réunion sont-elles prêtes ?

   Are the meeting notes ready?

   notes

   notes

   réunion

   meeting

   sont-elles

   are they?

   prêtes

   ready

   More detail

   notes means “notes” here. It is the plural of the feminine noun note; the singular is une note, and the plural article is les. In this sentence, notes is the subject and refers to the meeting notes identified by the following noun phrase. Example: J’écris une note. — “I am writing a note.” réunion means “meeting.” It is the feminine noun une réunion; its plural is des réunions. The sequence de la réunion means “of the meeting,” identifying which notes are meant: les notes de la réunion = “the meeting notes.” Example: La réunion commence à neuf heures. — “The meeting starts at nine o’clock.” sont-elles is an inverted question pattern: sont is the present-tense third-person plural form of être (“to be”), and elles is the feminine plural subject pronoun (“they”). In a question, the pronoun follows the verb and is joined with a hyphen: Sont-elles prêtes ? means “Are they ready?” Here, the next sentence confirms that elles refers to the notes. Useful contrast: Elles sont prêtes. — “They are ready.” The statement uses normal subject–verb order, while Sont-elles prêtes ? uses inversion to form the question. prêtes means “ready” here. It is the feminine plural form of the adjective prêt; it agrees with the feminine plural noun notes. The masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural, and feminine plural forms are prêt, prête, prêts, and prêtes. Example: Les valises sont prêtes. — “The suitcases are ready.” The adjective is feminine plural because valises is feminine plural. Together, Les notes de la réunion is the subject noun phrase, sont-elles turns être into an inverted question, and prêtes describes the notes. The complete utterance therefore means: “Are the meeting notes ready?”

2. Elles sont sur mon bureau.

   They are on my desk.

   Elles

   they

   sont

   are

   sur

   on

   mon

   my

   bureau

   desk

   More detail

   Elles is a third-person feminine plural subject pronoun: “they” for a feminine plural group. The form marks feminine plural; it does not identify the group beyond the information supplied here. Compare ils for a masculine or mixed plural group. Example: Elles arrivent. — “They are arriving.” sont is the present-tense form of être (“to be”) for elles and for ils. The useful chain is je suis, tu es, il/elle est, nous sommes, vous êtes, ils/elles sont. Here it links the subject to its location. sur is a preposition meaning “on” here, indicating a position on a surface. Example: Le livre est sur la table. — “The book is on the table.” mon means “my” before the noun it determines. French possessive forms agree with the possessed noun, not with the owner: mon bureau uses mon because bureau is masculine singular. With a feminine singular noun, the usual form is ma, as in ma chaise (“my chair”); before a vowel sound, mon can also occur before a feminine singular noun, as in mon amie (“my female friend”). bureau is a masculine singular noun meaning “desk” in this sentence. It can also mean “office” in other contexts, so the fixed translation establishes the intended sense here. Its plural is spelled bureaux; the singular and plural are generally pronounced the same in standard French. Together, Elles sont says “they are,” and sur mon bureau specifies the location “on my desk.” The complete utterance therefore means “They are on my desk.”

3. Est-ce qu’il y a une copie pour moi ?

   Is there a copy for me?

   Est-ce qu’il y a

   is there…?

   copie

   copy

   pour moi

   for me

   More detail

   Est-ce qu’il y a is a reusable way to ask whether something exists or is available: Est-ce qu’il y a + noun ... ? Here, est-ce que marks a yes/no question, while il y a is the fixed existential expression “there is/there are.” The il here is impersonal; it does not identify a particular person. The form a is the third-person singular present form of avoir (“to have”), but in il y a the whole expression means “there is/are.” Example: Est-ce qu’il y a une solution ? — “Is there a solution?” copie means “copy” here. Its base form is copie, and it is a feminine noun: une copie. The indefinite article une marks the noun as feminine and indefinite; it does not by itself state a specific numeric count. In this sentence, the question asks about the availability or existence of a copy, without specifying which copy. Example: J’ai une copie. — “I have a copy.” pour moi means “for me.” pour introduces the intended recipient or beneficiary, and moi is the stressed form corresponding to “me,” used after a preposition such as pour. This phrase identifies who the copy is intended for; it does not change the number or gender of copie. Putting the parts together, Est-ce qu’il y a une copie pour moi ? asks whether a copy intended for the speaker is available: “Is there a copy for me?”

4. Voici une copie.

   Here is one.

   Voici

   Here is

   copie

   copy

   More detail

   Voici is a presentation form meaning “here is” or “here are.” It introduces something being shown or presented. It does not change for the person presenting the item or for the item’s gender; the number distinction is expressed by what follows: Voici une copie (“Here is a copy”) versus Voici des copies (“Here are copies”). copie means “copy” here. Its base form is the feminine noun copie; the plural is copies. The feminine article in une copie is grammatical agreement with this noun, not a claim about a numerical quantity beyond the indefinite meaning of the article. A useful contrast is un exemplaire, which can also mean “a copy” or “an example,” but is a different masculine noun with the article un. Together, Voici une copie presents one copy: “Here is one.” The translation uses “one” because the context makes the presented item a copy, while English can leave the noun unspoken. The French sentence itself explicitly contains copie and uses the indefinite singular phrase une copie.

5. De quoi parlons-nous aujourd’hui ?

   What are we discussing today?

   De quoi

   about what

   parlons-nous

   are we discussing

   aujourd’hui

   today

   More detail

   De quoi asks for the topic: literally, “about what?” The preposition de belongs with parler in the pattern parler de + topic (“to talk about + topic”). quoi is the form used for “what” after a preposition. For example: De quoi parle-t-elle ? means “What is she talking about?” parlons-nous contains parlons, the present-tense first-person plural form of parler (“to talk”), and the subject pronoun nous (“we”) placed after the verb. This order is a formal or standard way to form a yes/no or information question in French: Parlons-nous de ce sujet ? means “Are we talking about this subject?” Here, the inversion combines with De quoi to ask for the topic. The verb pattern is parler de quelque chose; the preposition de is therefore retained before the question word. aujourd’hui is the adverb “today,” referring to the current day. It is written with an apostrophe. For example: Nous travaillons aujourd’hui. means “We are working today.” Together, De quoi + parlons-nous + aujourd’hui asks which topic we are discussing on the current day: “What are we discussing today?”

6. Nous allons discuter du nouveau plan.

   We will discuss the new plan.

   Nous allons

   we will

   discuter

   discuss

   nouveau

   new

   plan

   plan

   More detail

   Nous allons means “we will” here. Nous is the first-person plural subject, and allons is the present-tense form of aller for nous. French commonly uses aller + an infinitive for an intended or upcoming action: Nous allons commencer. — “We are going to start.” This construction does not mean that allons itself means “will”; the future meaning comes from the combination. discuter is the infinitive “to discuss.” After allons, the following verb stays in the infinitive: Nous allons discuter — “We are going to discuss.” The verb discuter is used with de when introducing the topic, as in discuter de quelque chose — “to discuss something.” In this sentence, de combines with the masculine singular definite article le in du. nouveau means “new” here and describes plan. It is the masculine singular form of the adjective. The feminine singular form is nouvelle, as in une nouvelle idée — “a new idea.” The adjective agrees with the noun it describes; nouveau is not a form of plan. plan is a masculine noun meaning “plan.” Its definite singular form is le plan, and after de, this becomes du plan. A useful related plural form is les plans — “the plans.” Together, discuter du nouveau plan means “discuss the new plan”: du marks the topic introduced by de, while nouveau describes the masculine singular noun plan. The complete utterance, Nous allons discuter du nouveau plan., means “We will discuss the new plan” or, more literally, “We are going to discuss the new plan.”

7. Laisse-moi lire les notes avant de commencer.

   Let me read the notes before we start.

   Laisse-moi

   Let me…

   lire

   read

   notes

   notes

   avant de

   before

   commencer

   start

   More detail

   Laisse-moi is the informal singular imperative of laisser (“to let” or “to leave”) followed by the stressed pronoun moi (“me”). Here it forms the reusable request pattern Laisse-moi + infinitive: “Let me …”. The hyphen is part of this written imperative-pronoun construction. For a plural or formal addressee, French uses Laissez-moi. lire is the infinitive “to read”. After Laisse-moi, it names the action the speaker asks to be allowed to perform. The same infinitive can follow another form of laisser, for example: Elle me laisse lire. — “She lets me read.” The noun phrase is les notes: notes is the plural of note, meaning “notes” here, and les is the definite plural article “the”. The noun has written plural -s, and the article also marks the noun phrase as plural. The selected quote notes contains only the noun; les belongs to the surrounding noun phrase. avant de introduces a temporal relation in which one action occurs earlier than another, and it is followed by an infinitive. Here, avant de commencer means “before we start”; the French infinitive does not itself display the subject, while the fixed translation identifies that subject as “we”. With a finite clause, French uses avant que, as in avant que nous commencions — “before we start.” commencer is the infinitive “to start” or “to begin”. In the fixed sentence it follows de in the pattern avant de + infinitive, so it is not conjugated. A conjugated example is Nous commençons maintenant. — “We are starting now.” Together, Laisse-moi lire les notes means “Let me read the notes.” Adding avant de commencer places that reading before the starting action of “we”, producing the fixed meaning: “Let me read the notes before we start.”

8. Prends une minute avant de commencer.

   Take a minute before we begin.

   Prends

   take

   minute

   minute

   avant de

   before

   commencer

   begin

   More detail

   Prends is the informal singular imperative of prendre (“to take”), addressed to one person. The subject tu is normally omitted in this imperative. Useful forms are prendre (infinitive), tu prends (“you take”), and prends ! (“take!”). minute means “minute” here, a short unit of time. It is a feminine noun, as shown by agreement with une. In this sentence, une minute means “a minute”; the indefinite article does not by itself establish an exact numeric count. Example: quelques minutes means “a few minutes.” avant de introduces an action that occurs earlier than another action. The reusable pattern is avant de + infinitive, meaning “before [someone] does something.” commencer is the infinitive “to begin” or “to start.” Its base form is commencer; for example, je commence means “I begin” or “I am beginning.” After avant de, the infinitive is used. Together, Prends une minute means “Take a minute.” avant de commencer adds “before we begin,” so the complete utterance means “Take a minute before we begin.”