Rest your eyes from the screen | Learn French in English

Sentence explanations

1. J'ai les yeux fatigués.

   My eyes are tired.

   J'ai

   I have

   yeux

   eyes

   fatigués

   tired

   More detail

   J'ai is the contraction of je (“I”) and ai, the first-person singular present form of avoir (“to have”). French commonly uses avoir in this pattern to describe a physical state: J'ai les yeux... means “My eyes are...”, not literally that the speaker possesses them in this context. yeux means “eyes” here. It is the irregular plural of œil (“eye”): un œil → des yeux. The plural form is required here because yeux refers to more than one eye. fatigués means “tired” here. It is the masculine plural form of the adjective fatigué; it agrees with yeux, which is masculine plural in French. The feminine forms are fatiguée (singular) and fatiguées (plural), as in une personne fatiguée (“a tired person”). Together, J'ai + les yeux + fatigués gives “My eyes are tired.”

2. Fais une courte pause loin de l'écran.

   Take a short break from the screen.

   Fais

   take / make

   courte

   short

   pause

   break

   loin de

   away from

   l'écran

   the screen

   More detail

   Fais is the singular informal imperative of faire (“to do” or “to make”). In this sentence, faire une pause is the reusable French expression for “to take a break”; the implied subject is tu, so the command addresses one person informally. Example: Fais attention. — “Pay attention.” courte means “short” here and describes pause. It is the feminine singular form of court; the adjective agrees with the feminine singular noun pause. The masculine singular form is court, while courte has the added final -e in this form. Example: une courte réunion — “a short meeting.” pause is a feminine noun meaning “break” or “pause.” With faire, the pattern faire une pause means “to take a break,” rather than describing the act of making a physical object. Example: Nous faisons une pause. — “We are taking a break.” loin de means “away from” or “far from.” It expresses distance from something; here, it indicates that the break is taken away from the screen. Example: Il habite loin de Paris. — “He lives far from Paris.” l'écran means “the screen.” It is the written form of the masculine definite article le before the vowel sound at the beginning of écran; le is elided to l'. The noun écran remains masculine, as shown by un écran. Example: Je regarde l'écran. — “I am looking at the screen.” Together, Fais une courte pause forms an informal singular command: “Take a short break.” loin de l'écran specifies that the break should be taken away from the screen, producing the complete meaning: “Take a short break from the screen.”

3. Combien de temps dois-je regarder ailleurs ?

   How long should I look away?

   Combien de temps

   how long

   dois-je

   should I

   regarder

   look

   ailleurs

   away

   More detail

   Combien de temps asks about duration: literally, “how much time?” It is the standard French pattern for “how long?” Compare combien de minutes when asking for a number of minutes rather than duration in general. dois-je comes from devoir (“must; should”) in the present tense, first-person singular: je dois. In this question, inversion places the subject pronoun after the verb: dois-je. The context makes the intended force a recommendation, so “should I” fits here. The hyphen is part of this written inversion pattern. For comparison, doit-il means “must/should he?”; the verb form changes with the subject. regarder is the infinitive “to look.” After a conjugated form of devoir, the following verb stays in the infinitive: je dois regarder = “I must/should look.” The infinitive does not show the subject here; dois carries the first-person singular marking. ailleurs is an adverb meaning “elsewhere” or, in this context, “away.” It describes the direction or place of looking, without naming a specific destination. The nearby context supports the screen-related sense, but the word itself can be used more broadly: Regarde ailleurs. — “Look somewhere else.” Together, Combien de temps asks for the duration, dois-je asks what is recommended for the speaker, and regarder ailleurs means “look away.” The complete utterance therefore means: “How long should I look away?”

4. Regarde ailleurs pendant une minute.

   Look away for a minute.

   Regarde

   Look

   ailleurs

   away; elsewhere

   pendant

   for; during

   minute

   minute

   More detail

   Regarde is the imperative of regarder (“to look/watch”) for one familiar or otherwise informally addressed person. The same form can also be a present-tense form meaning “you look,” but here its position at the start without an expressed subject, together with the intended English instruction, makes it a command. Example: Regarde ici. — “Look here.” ailleurs is an adverb meaning “elsewhere” or, with a verb of looking, “away.” It does not change for person or number. Here it specifies the direction or location of looking, not the duration. pendant introduces a duration: pendant + a time expression means that an action continues for that length of time. It can also mean “during” when followed by an event or period. Example: Je lis pendant dix minutes. — “I read for ten minutes.” minute is a feminine noun meaning “minute.” Its plural is minutes; the article and adjective, when present, agree with it: une minute, deux minutes. In this sentence, une is the feminine singular indefinite article; the phrase gives a one-minute duration, rather than treating the article alone as a general numerical rule. Together, pendant une minute means “for a minute,” and Regarde ailleurs means “look away.” The complete utterance is therefore the informal singular instruction “Look away for a minute.”

5. Je peux boire un peu d'eau pendant que je me repose.

   I can drink some water while I rest.

   Je peux

   I can

   boire

   drink

   un peu

   a little

   eau

   water

   pendant que

   while

   me repose

   rest

   More detail

   Je peux uses pouvoir in the present tense, first-person singular: “I can” or “I am able to.” The following verb stays in the infinitive: Je peux boire = “I can drink.” Compare Je peux with Je veux (“I want to”); the first expresses ability or possibility, while the second expresses desire. boire is the infinitive “to drink.” Its present first-person form is je bois: Je bois de l'eau means “I drink water.” After a modal such as peux, French uses the infinitive, so peux boire means “can drink,” not “can drinks.” un peu means “a little” or “some” when it indicates a small amount. With a noun, the reusable pattern is un peu de + noun: un peu de thé means “a little tea.” Here, un peu expresses a small amount; the article un is part of this quantity expression rather than a claim that there is one separate unit. eau means “water.” The full quantity phrase is un peu d'eau: de becomes d' before the vowel sound at the beginning of eau. The apostrophe belongs to the spelling of the preposition before this vowel; eau itself is the noun “water.” pendant que is a conjunction meaning “while.” It introduces an action happening during the time of another action. For example, Je lis pendant que tu écris means “I read while you write.” me repose appears in the first-person singular present construction je me repose, from the reflexive verb se reposer, “to rest.” me is the reflexive pronoun referring back to the subject, the speaker, and repose is the present-tense form used with je. The reflexive form is the ordinary French way to express “I rest”; it does not mean that the speaker is causing themself to rest. For example, Je me repose après le travail means “I rest after work.” Putting the parts together, Je peux boire un peu d'eau means “I can drink some water,” and pendant que je me repose adds the time relation “while I rest.” The complete utterance means: “I can drink some water while I rest.”

6. Cela devrait aider tes yeux à aller mieux.

   That should help your eyes feel better.

   Cela devrait

   That should

   aider

   help

   yeux

   eyes

   aller mieux

   feel better

   More detail

   Cela devrait means “that should.” Cela is a demonstrative pronoun meaning “that” or “this”; here, the translation identifies it as “that.” Devrait is the third-person singular conditional form of devoir, used here to express an expected or likely result: “should.” The conditional form is devoir → devrait for “he/she/it should.” Aider is the infinitive “to help.” A useful pattern is aider quelqu’un à + infinitive: “to help someone do something.” In this sentence, tes yeux is the thing helped, and à aller introduces what they are helped to do or become. Yeux means “eyes.” It is the plural of œil (“eye”), an irregular plural: un œil → des yeux. The possessive tes means “your” with a plural noun; it does not itself specify how many eyes. Aller mieux literally uses “to go” with mieux (“better”), but together it is a common way to express improving or feeling better. Mieux is the comparative form related to bien: bien (“well”) → mieux (“better”). For example, Je vais mieux means “I’m feeling better.” Together, Cela devrait aider tes yeux à aller mieux means “That should help your eyes feel better.” The structure is that should help your eyes to feel better: the expected effect is expressed by devrait, and the improvement is expressed by aller mieux.

7. Ensuite, je peux finir la tâche.

   Then I can finish the task.

   Ensuite

   then; next

   je peux

   I can

   finir

   finish

   tâche

   task

   More detail

   Ensuite means “then” or “next” and places this action after an earlier one. It is a useful sequencing word: D'abord ..., ensuite ... means “First ..., then ...”. je peux contains je, “I,” and peux, the first-person singular present form of pouvoir, “can/be able to.” With an infinitive, je peux + infinitive expresses what I can or am able to do: Je peux attendre. — “I can wait.” Here it introduces the action that is possible for the speaker; the action itself comes next. finir is the infinitive “to finish.” It is a regular verb of the -ir group. Its present first-person form is je finis, but after peux the infinitive is required: Je peux finir. — “I can finish.” tâche is a feminine noun meaning “task.” The circumflex is part of the spelling; tache without the circumflex is a different French word. In this sentence, the feminine definite article la gives la tâche, “the task.” Together, je peux finir la tâche means “I can finish the task”: pouvoir expresses ability or possibility, and finir names the action that is possible. Ensuite places that possibility after the earlier step, so the whole utterance is: “Then I can finish the task.”

8. Fais d'abord la pause, puis finis la tâche.

   Take the break first, then finish the task.

   Fais

   take

   d'abord

   first

   pause

   break

   puis

   then

   finis

   finish

   tâche

   task

   More detail

   Fais is the imperative form of faire (“to do/make”) for tu: faire → fais in this command. Here it means “take” because French uses faire in the expression faire une pause. Example: Fais attention. — “Pay attention.” d'abord means “first” or “to begin with.” It marks the first step in an order. Example: Lis d'abord. — “Read first.” la pause means “the break.” Pause is a feminine noun, so it is used here with the feminine definite article la. The expression faire une pause means “to take a break”; the article is une in that expression because it introduces a break as an instance, while la pause refers to the break as a specific one. puis means “then,” introducing the next step. It is a compact sequencing word, similar in function here to ensuite (“then/afterwards”), but the two are not interchangeable in every style or context. finis is the imperative form of finir (“to finish”) for tu. The same spelling can also be the present-tense form for je or tu, but here its command meaning is clear from its position as the second imperative. Example: Finis ton travail. — “Finish your work.” la tâche means “the task.” Tâche is a feminine noun, which is why it takes la here. Its accent is part of the spelling; tache without the accent is a different French word. The utterance has two coordinated commands: Fais d'abord la pause means “Take the break first,” and puis finis la tâche means “then finish the task.” The pattern is reusable as Imperative + d'abord ..., puis + imperative ... for giving two ordered instructions. The full meaning is: “Take the break first, then finish the task.”