Setting the table | Learn French in English

Sentence explanations

1. Regardons la liste.

   Let's look at the list.

   Regardons

   let’s look at

   liste

   list

   More detail

   Regardons comes from regarder, “to look at” or “to watch.” Here it is the first-person plural imperative: it invites the speaker and at least one other person to do the action together, so Regardons ... is a reusable way to say “Let’s look at ...”. The same spelling can also be the present-tense form meaning “we look,” but the invitation context gives it the imperative use. For example: Regardons le film. — “Let’s watch the film.” liste is a feminine singular noun meaning “list.” Its usual article is la: la liste. The noun itself stays liste in the singular; the article marks the noun phrase as feminine singular. For example: La liste est courte. — “The list is short.” Together, Regardons + la liste means “Let’s look at the list.” The imperative invites joint action, and la liste identifies what the speakers will look at.

2. Je l'ai ici.

   I have it here.

   Je

   I

   l'

   it

   ai

   have

   ici

   here

   More detail

   Je is the first-person singular subject pronoun: it means “I” when the speaker refers to themself. Before a vowel sound, je normally contracts to j’, as in j’ai; this form is not used for a different person. l’ is a shortened object pronoun before a vowel sound. Here it means “it,” referring to the item already understood in the situation. French uses le or la before a consonant sound, but both become l’ before a vowel sound; the shortened form itself does not show which gender the item has. ai is the first-person singular present form of avoir (“to have”): j’ai = “I have.” The base form is avoir; other present forms include tu as (“you have”) and il/elle a (“he/she has”). In this sentence, ai expresses possession or having something with the speaker, not merely existence. ici means “here,” referring to the location relevant to the speaker. A reusable contrast is ici (“here”) versus là (“there”): Le livre est ici. = “The book is here.” Together, Je + l’ + ai forms Je l’ai, literally “I have it,” with the object pronoun placed before the conjugated verb. Adding ici gives Je l’ai ici.: “I have it here.” The sentence states that the speaker has the understood item in this location.

3. Est-ce que les tasses sont prêtes ?

   Are the cups ready?

   Est-ce que

   question marker

   tasses

   cups

   sont

   are

   prêtes

   ready

   More detail

   Est-ce que introduces a yes/no question. It is a reusable question pattern placed before a statement: Est-ce que tu viens ? means “Are you coming?” The following clause keeps ordinary statement word order. tasses means “cups” here. Its singular form is tasse; tasses is plural, marked by the written -s. The noun is feminine, so forms that agree with it use feminine plural agreement. sont is the present-tense third-person plural form of être (“to be”). The singular counterpart is est: La tasse est... versus Les tasses sont.... The plural subject les tasses requires sont. prêtes means “ready” here. Its base form is the adjective prêt; prêtes is feminine plural, agreeing with feminine plural tasses. Compare La tasse est prête (“The cup is ready”) and Les tasses sont prêtes (“The cups are ready”). Together, Est-ce que + les tasses sont prêtes forms a yes/no question: “Are the cups ready?”

4. Je les ai toutes lavées.

   I washed them all.

   Je

   I

   les

   them

   toutes

   all

   lavées

   washed

   More detail

   Je means “I” and is the first-person singular subject pronoun. It identifies the speaker as the person who performed the action. For example: Je travaille. — “I work.” les is the plural direct-object pronoun meaning “them” here. It comes before the auxiliary in this past-tense construction. The form les marks plurality but does not itself show whether the referents are masculine or feminine. In the supplied exchange, the feminine-plural referents are understood from the preceding question about the cups. toutes means “all” here and is the feminine-plural form agreeing with the plural feminine referents. Compare tous for a masculine-plural group or a mixed group in the relevant agreement system. In Je les ai toutes lavées, toutes emphasizes that every one of the referents was washed, not just some of them. lavées is the feminine-plural past participle of laver (“to wash”). The base form is laver; its past participle is lavé, with the feminine-plural form lavées. With avoir, a preceding direct object pronoun can trigger written agreement of the past participle: les refers to the feminine-plural objects, so lavé becomes lavées. The final -es belongs to lavées, not to les or toutes. Together, Je gives the subject, les gives the plural objects, ai is the first-person singular present form of avoir used as the auxiliary, and lavées completes the past-tense verb phrase. toutes adds “all.” The whole utterance therefore means “I washed them all,” with the surrounding exchange supporting the reading “I washed all the cups.”

5. Il manque quelque chose ?

   Is anything missing?

   Il manque

   is missing

   quelque chose

   anything / something

   More detail

   Il manque uses the present-tense form manque of manquer: manquer → il manque. In this impersonal pattern, il is a fixed grammatical subject rather than a clearly identified person, and the thing that is absent comes after the verb. Il manque X means “X is missing” or “X is lacking.” Example: Il manque une chaise. — “A chair is missing.” Quelque chose is an indefinite pronoun meaning “something.” In this question, quelque chose is the thing whose absence is being checked; English naturally uses “anything” in the corresponding question. It does not identify what that thing is. Compare quelqu’un — “someone,” used for a person — with quelque chose — “something,” used for a thing or an unspecified matter. Together, Il manque quelque chose ? asks whether there is an unspecified missing thing: “Is anything missing?” The question keeps the same useful pattern Il manque + [the missing thing]; for example, Il manque du sel ? means “Is any salt missing?”

6. Il nous faut encore une cuillère.

   We still need one spoon.

   Il nous faut

   we need

   encore

   still

   cuillère

   spoon

   More detail

   Il nous faut expresses “we need” in this sentence. French uses the impersonal construction il faut (“it is necessary”), and nous identifies the people for whom it is necessary. The pronoun changes with the person: Il me faut un stylo means “I need a pen,” while Il leur faut de l’eau means “They need water.” Here, Il nous faut is followed by the thing needed. encore means “still” here: the need continues at this point. Its position before the noun phrase gives Il nous faut encore une cuillère, “We still need one spoon.” In other contexts, encore can have other meanings, but “still” is the meaning supported here. une cuillère means “one spoon” here. cuillère is a feminine noun, so its singular indefinite article is une; its plural is des cuillères. The article agrees with the noun: un couteau means “a knife,” but une cuillère means “a spoon.” In this fixed translation, the intended quantity is one spoon. Together, Il nous faut + encore + une cuillère says that one additional spoon is still needed by the speaker’s group: “We still need one spoon.”

7. Je peux en prendre une autre.

   I can get another one.

   Je peux

   I can

   en

   of it; of them

   prendre

   take; get

   autre

   other; another

   More detail

   Je peux uses pouvoir in the present tense, first-person singular: je peux = “I can.” Pouvoir is followed by an infinitive: Je peux venir means “I can come.” en is the pronoun meaning “of it” or “of them.” Here it refers to the item being obtained, with the surrounding context and translation supporting the sense “of them” in “get another one.” In Je peux en prendre, en is placed before the infinitive prendre. prendre is the infinitive “to take”; in this sentence, the intended meaning is “get.” After a form of pouvoir, the infinitive remains unchanged: Je peux prendre = “I can take/get.” Example: Elle peut prendre le bus. — “She can take the bus.” autre means “other” or “another” here. With une, une autre means “another one”; the omitted noun is feminine singular, consistent with the earlier cuillère (“spoon”). Autre has the same singular form for masculine and feminine nouns, while its plural form is autres: un autre livre, une autre cuillère, d’autres livres. Together, Je peux en prendre une autre means “I can get another one.” The pattern is subject + pouvoir + en + infinitive + une autre: the speaker says they are able to obtain an additional item of the understood kind.

8. Alors, la table est mise.

   Then the table is set.

   Alors

   then

   table

   table

   est mise

   is set

   More detail

   Alors means “then” here, linking this statement to what came before. It can also introduce a conclusion or transition in other contexts, but this sentence uses it in the temporal/discourse sense. table is the feminine singular noun meaning “table.” The article la marks it as feminine singular: la table. The noun can refer to a table generally; the fixed translation identifies the intended meaning here as the table being set. est mise expresses “is set.” est is the third-person singular present form of être (“to be”), agreeing with singular la table. mise is the feminine singular past participle of mettre (“to put” or “to set”); it agrees with table because the construction presents the table as having been set. Compare the masculine singular form mis, as in Le couvert est mis (“The table setting is laid”). The pattern être + past participle forms a passive or result-focused expression. Here, la table is the thing that has been set, while the person who set it is not stated. Together, Alors, la table est mise. means “Then the table is set.”