Preparing to go out in the rain | Learn French in English

Sentence explanations

1. Il pleut dehors.

   It is raining outside.

   Il

   it (weather expression)

   pleut

   is raining

   dehors

   outside

   More detail

   Il is an impersonal subject pronoun in this weather expression. Here it does not identify a person or object; French uses il with weather verbs such as pleuvoir (to rain) and neiger (to snow). pleut is the present-tense third-person singular form of pleuvoir (to rain). The form is irregular in relation to the infinitive: pleuvoir → il pleut. For example: Il neige. — “It is snowing.” dehors means “outside” and specifies where the rain is occurring. It is an adverb, so it does not change form for number or gender. A reusable example is Les enfants jouent dehors. — “The children are playing outside.” Together, Il pleut forms the standard French weather expression “It is raining,” and dehors adds the location: “It is raining outside.”

2. Mets tes bottes avant de partir.

   Wear your boots before you leave.

   Mets

   put on; wear

   tes

   your

   bottes

   boots

   avant de

   before doing something

   partir

   leave

   More detail

   Mets is the imperative form of mettre for tu. Here mettre means “to put on,” so Mets ... means “Put on ...” or naturally “Wear ...” as an instruction. The imperative addresses one person directly. Example: Mets ton manteau. — “Put on your coat.” tes is the possessive determiner meaning “your” before a plural noun. It agrees with the thing possessed, not with the owner: tes bottes means “your boots.” Its singular counterpart is ton or ta, chosen according to the following noun: ton manteau — “your coat”; ta veste — “your jacket.” bottes is the plural of the feminine noun botte, “boot.” The plural is marked by the final -s, which is generally not pronounced. Example: Mes bottes sont mouillées. — “My boots are wet.” avant de introduces an action that happens later than the first action: avant de + infinitive means “before doing something.” The subject of the infinitive is understood from the sentence; here it is the person being addressed. Example: Lave tes mains avant de manger. — “Wash your hands before eating.” partir is the infinitive meaning “to leave” or “to depart.” In this sentence it follows avant de, so the complete pattern is avant de partir, “before leaving.” Its related present-tense form for tu is tu pars, but the infinitive remains partir after this construction. Example: Je ferme la porte avant de partir. — “I close the door before leaving.” Together, Mets tes bottes gives the instruction “Put on your boots,” and avant de partir specifies that this should happen before leaving. The whole utterance is therefore: “Wear your boots before you leave.”

3. Il y a des flaques sur le chemin.

   There are puddles on the path.

   Il y a

   there is / there are

   flaques

   puddles

   sur

   on

   chemin

   path

   More detail

   Il y a is the fixed French construction for presenting or locating something: “there is” with a singular noun and “there are” with a plural noun. The form y a does not change to agree with what follows. Example: Il y a un livre. — “There is a book.” flaques means “puddles” here. Its base form is flaque (“puddle”); the final -s marks the plural in this noun. French normally places the plural indefinite article des before it: des flaques — “puddles” or “some puddles.” sur is the preposition “on” here. It introduces the location of something on a surface or in a position above it. Example: Le livre est sur la table. — “The book is on the table.” chemin means “path” here. Its singular form is chemin, and the phrase uses the definite article le: le chemin — “the path.” The article identifies the path as a particular one in this utterance; un chemin would mean “a path.” Together, Il y a des flaques presents puddles as existing, and sur le chemin gives their location. The complete utterance therefore means: “There are puddles on the path.”

4. Contourne-les doucement.

   Step around them slowly.

   Contourne

   go around

   les

   them

   doucement

   slowly

   More detail

   Contourne is the imperative form of contourner for tu: it tells one person to go around something. For example, Contourne l'arbre. means “Go around the tree.” Les is a third-person plural direct-object pronoun meaning “them.” In this sentence, the translation and preceding context support the puddles as its referent. In an affirmative French imperative, the object pronoun follows the verb and is joined with a hyphen, as in contourne-les; this is different from ordinary declarative order, where the pronoun normally comes before the verb. Doucement is an adverb meaning “slowly” here. It describes how the action is carried out, modifying contourne. For example, Marche doucement. means “Walk slowly.” Together, contourne-les means “go around them,” and doucement adds the manner “slowly,” producing “Step around them slowly.”

5. Mon sac pourrait être mouillé.

   My bag might get wet.

   Mon

   my

   sac

   bag

   pourrait

   might; could

   être

   be

   mouillé

   wet

   More detail

   Mon is the possessive adjective meaning “my” here. It agrees with sac, not with the person who owns it: sac is masculine singular, so mon sac is used. For a feminine singular noun, the form is often ma, as in ma valise (“my suitcase”); before a vowel sound, mon can also occur with a feminine noun, as in mon amie (“my female friend”). sac means “bag.” Its plural is sacs: un sac (“a bag”) → des sacs (“bags”). The noun is masculine, which also explains the forms mon and mouillé in this sentence. pourrait is the third-person singular conditional form of pouvoir (“to be able to; can”). In this utterance, followed by an infinitive, it expresses possibility: pourrait + infinitive means “might” or “could.” The conditional makes the possibility less certain than a plain present statement. Example: Il pourrait venir. — “He might come.” être is the infinitive of être (“to be”). After a conjugated modal such as pourrait, the following verb remains in the infinitive: pourrait être (“might be”). The form être itself does not show the subject’s person or number here; pourrait carries the conjugated form. mouillé is the masculine singular form of the adjective mouillé (“wet”). It agrees with sac, so the phrase is un sac mouillé. The feminine singular is mouillée, and the plural forms are mouillés or mouillées, depending on the noun’s gender and number. Example: La chemise est mouillée. — “The shirt is wet.” Together, Mon sac identifies the speaker’s bag, while pourrait être mouillé says that it may be wet or may become wet. French être mouillé does not by itself force a distinction between an already wet state and becoming wet; the fixed translation presents the intended meaning as “might get wet.” The complete utterance is therefore: “My bag might get wet.”

6. Garde-le sous ton manteau.

   Keep it under your coat.

   Garde-le

   Keep it

   sous

   under

   ton

   your

   manteau

   coat

   More detail

   Garde-le means “keep it” here. Garde is the imperative singular form of garder (“to keep”); the subject “you” is understood rather than stated. Le is an unstressed object pronoun meaning “it” in this sentence, and it is attached to a positive imperative with a hyphen: Garde-le. In a negative command, the pronoun is placed differently: Ne le garde pas (“Don’t keep it”). Sous means “under” and introduces the location of the object. For example, Le livre est sous la table means “The book is under the table.” Ton means “your” before a singular masculine noun. It agrees with the possessed noun, not with the person who possesses it. The feminine singular form is ta, as in ta veste (“your jacket”); before a vowel sound, ton can also appear before a feminine singular noun, as in ton amie (“your female friend”). Manteau means “coat.” It is a masculine singular noun, so the matching possessive form here is ton: ton manteau (“your coat”). Together, Garde-le + sous + ton manteau gives “Keep it under your coat.” The imperative tells one person to keep the object in the location expressed by sous ton manteau.

7. Je devrais aussi prendre un parapluie.

   I should take an umbrella too.

   Je devrais

   I should

   aussi

   too; also

   prendre

   take

   parapluie

   umbrella

   More detail

   Je devrais is the first-person singular conditional form of devoir. Here it expresses advice or an appropriate action: “I should,” rather than a firm obligation. The useful pattern is je devrais + infinitive: Je devrais partir. — “I should leave.” The conditional form is devrais; it is not the present-tense form je dois (“I must” or “I have to”). aussi means “too” here and adds this action to something already relevant. It commonly appears after the conjugated verb: Je devrais aussi partir. — “I should leave too.” Its position can vary in other sentences, but its role is to add “also” or “too.” prendre is the infinitive meaning “to take.” After devrais, the following verb stays in the infinitive: Je devrais prendre... — “I should take...” The base form is prendre; useful forms include je prends (“I take”) and the past participle pris (“taken” in compound forms). Do not treat prendre as a form of devoir: devoir supplies the “should” meaning, while prendre names the action. parapluie is the noun for “umbrella.” In the utterance, un parapluie means “an umbrella”; un is the indefinite article and does not by itself assert a specific numeric count. The noun is masculine, as shown by un; for example, un parapluie noir means “a black umbrella.” Together, Je devrais expresses the speaker’s advice to themself, aussi adds this action, and prendre un parapluie specifies the action and object. The complete meaning is “I should take an umbrella too.”

8. Ça t'aidera à rester au sec.

   That will help keep you dry.

   Ça

   That

   t'aidera

   will help you

   rester

   stay

   au sec

   dry

   More detail

   Ça is a demonstrative pronoun meaning “that” here. It is the subject of the sentence; the fixed translation and context support reading it as the situation or thing being referred to, without identifying a more specific noun. t'aidera combines te (“you,” as the object) with aidera, the third-person singular future form of aider (“to help”). The apostrophe reflects the elision of te before a vowel: te aidera becomes t'aidera. The future form presents the help as something that will occur. A useful pattern is Ça t'aidera à + infinitive — “That will help you to …” Example: Cette veste t'aidera à rester au chaud. — “This jacket will help you stay warm.” Here t' still means “you,” while aidera agrees with the singular subject Cette veste, not with you. rester is the infinitive of “to stay” or “to remain.” After aider with à, French uses an infinitive to state the action the person is helped to perform: aider quelqu'un à rester means “help someone stay.” au sec is the expression “dry” in this context. au is the contraction of à and le; sec is the adjective used in the masculine singular form within this expression. The phrase describes remaining protected from getting wet, rather than simply naming a dry object. Together, Ça t'aidera à rester au sec means “That will help keep you dry.” The structure is: demonstrative subject + future help with you as object + à + infinitive phrase describing the result: “That will help you stay dry.”