Reviewing meeting action items | Learn French in English

Sentence explanations

1. Pouvons-nous revoir les tâches décidées lors de la réunion ?

   Can we review the action items from the meeting?

   Pouvons-nous

   Can we?

   revoir

   review

   les tâches

   the action items

   décidées

   decided

   lors de

   during

   la réunion

   the meeting

   More detail

   Pouvons-nous means “can we?” here. pouvons is the first-person plural present form of pouvoir (“to be able to”); nous is the subject pronoun. French can form a question by placing the verb before the subject pronoun with a hyphen: Pouvons-nous ... ? This asks about ability or permission in the situation, without stating that the review will happen. revoir is an infinitive meaning “to review” here. It is the useful verb to use after pouvoir: pouvoir + infinitive. Its base verb is voir (“to see”), while revoir has the relevant sense “to look at or examine again.” Example: Nous pouvons revoir le document. — “We can review the document.” les tâches means “the tasks,” and in this context the fixed translation identifies them as the meeting’s action items. tâche is a feminine noun; tâches is its plural form, and les is the plural definite article. The noun itself, rather than les, carries the plural ending. Example: Les tâches sont claires. — “The tasks are clear.” décidées describes les tâches as having been decided. It is the feminine plural form of the past participle décidé, from décider (“to decide”), because it agrees with the feminine plural noun tâches. The ending belongs to décidées, not to the noun. In this noun phrase, the participle follows the noun: les tâches décidées — “the decided tasks” or, naturally here, “the action items that were decided.” lors de is a compact prepositional expression meaning “during” or “at the time of.” It introduces the event connected with the decision: décidées lors de ... means “decided during ...” Example: Nous avons parlé lors de la réunion. — “We spoke during the meeting.” la réunion means “the meeting.” réunion is a feminine singular noun, so it uses the feminine singular definite article la. The phrase lors de la réunion means “during the meeting.” Together, Pouvons-nous asks whether the participants can do something, revoir names that action, and les tâches décidées lors de la réunion identifies what they would review: the action items decided during the meeting. The complete utterance therefore means, “Can we review the action items from the meeting?”

2. J’ai le résumé ouvert, alors vérifions-les.

   I have the summary open, so let's check them.

   J’ai

   I have

   résumé

   summary

   ouvert

   open

   alors

   so

   vérifions

   let’s check

   les

   them

   More detail

   J’ai is the first-person singular present form of avoir (“to have”); j’ is the shortened form of je before a vowel sound. Here it states that the speaker has something available or displayed. For example, J’ai le document. means “I have the document.” résumé is a masculine singular noun meaning “summary.” Its plural is résumés. In this sentence, le résumé means “the summary”; le marks a specific masculine singular noun. ouvert is the masculine singular form of the adjective ouvert (“open”), whose base form is also commonly given as ouvert. It agrees with résumé, so the masculine singular form is used here. In avoir quelque chose ouvert, the adjective describes the state in which the speaker has something: J’ai la fenêtre ouverte. means “I have the window open.” With a feminine singular noun, the adjective is ouverte. alors connects the situation to the next action and means “so” here. It introduces the consequence or proposed next step. vérifions comes from vérifier (“to check” or “to verify”). It is the first-person plural imperative, used for “let’s check.” The same written form is also the present indicative form for “we check,” but here the context makes it a suggestion or exhortation. For example, Vérifions les chiffres. means “Let’s check the figures.” les is a plural direct-object pronoun meaning “them” here. It comes after the imperative and is joined to it with a hyphen: vérifions-les. The pronoun is plural because it refers to the plural things being checked; it does not itself identify their gender in this form. Together, J’ai le résumé ouvert says that the speaker has the summary open. Alors links that situation to the proposed action, and vérifions-les means “let’s check them,” with les referring to the plural items understood from the exchange. The whole utterance therefore means: “I have the summary open, so let’s check them.”

3. Qui doit contacter le client ?

   Who should contact the client?

   Qui

   who

   doit

   should

   contacter

   contact

   client

   client

   More detail

   Qui asks for the person who performs the action: “who?”. In this sentence it is the subject of doit contacter, so the unknown person is the one expected to make the contact. Compare Qui arrive ? — “Who is arriving?” doit is the third-person singular present form of devoir. Here, with the infinitive contacter, it expresses an expectation or obligation, translated by “should”. The useful pattern is devoir + infinitive: Il doit appeler. — “He should call.” The form doit agrees with a singular third-person subject; other subjects use forms such as je dois and nous devons. contacter is the infinitive meaning “to contact”. After doit, French uses the infinitive rather than a second finite verb: Elle doit répondre. — “She should reply.” client is the noun meaning “client” here. In the full noun phrase le client, le is the definite article “the”; it identifies a specific client in the situation, while client names that person or organization. The noun can also refer to a female client with the feminine form cliente when that distinction is relevant: La cliente répond. — “The client is replying.” Together, Qui asks for the actor, doit contacter means “should contact”, and le client means “the client”. The complete utterance therefore means “Who should contact the client?” The French question uses the same word order as a statement apart from placing Qui at the front: Qui doit contacter le client ?.

4. Le chef de projet va s’en occuper.

   The project lead will handle that.

   chef

   lead

   projet

   project

   va

   is going to

   s’en occuper

   handle that

   More detail

   chef means “head” or “person in charge”; here, in chef de projet, it refers to the project lead. The feminine form is cheffe in usage that chooses a feminine noun form, but chef itself does not identify the person’s gender here. Example: la cheffe de projet arrive — “the female project lead is arriving.” projet means “project.” The pattern chef de + noun identifies what area or task the person leads: chef de projet means “project lead.” Here, de links projet to chef; it does not mean that the project is a possession. va is the present-tense form of aller for il/elle/on. With an infinitive, the pattern aller + infinitive expresses the near future: Il va répondre — “He is going to answer.” In this sentence, va combines with s’occuper to express that the lead will handle the matter. s’en occuper is the reusable expression s’occuper de quelque chose, “to take care of something” or “to handle something.” In this form, s’ is the reflexive pronoun belonging to occuper, and en replaces de + the thing; together, they produce the meaning “handle that” in the fixed translation. The infinitive is occuper, while the complete construction is s’occuper de. Example: Je vais m’en occuper. — “I’m going to take care of it.” The reflexive pronoun changes with the subject: je m’en occupe, il s’en occupe. Together, Le chef de projet supplies the actor, va marks the near future, and s’en occuper means “handle that.” The complete utterance therefore means “The project lead will handle that.”

5. Que dois-je faire ensuite ?

   What should I do next?

   Que

   what

   dois-je

   should I

   faire

   do

   ensuite

   next

   More detail

   Que asks about a thing or action: here it introduces the question “what … do?”. In French, que is used before the inverted verb in this kind of formal or neutral question. Example: Que veux-tu ? — “What do you want?” dois-je is the inverted form of je dois, from devoir (“to have to” or “should”). The form dois is the first-person singular present form, and -je places the subject pronoun after the verb to form the question. Here, devoir expresses what the speaker should do, not a past obligation. Example: Dois-je attendre ? — “Should I wait?” faire is the infinitive “to do” or “to make”. After devoir, the following verb stays in the infinitive: je dois faire means “I should do”. Example: Je dois répondre. — “I should reply.” ensuite means “next” or “afterwards”. It specifies that the action is the next one in the sequence. Example: Que faire ensuite ? — “What to do next?” Together, Que + dois-je + faire + ensuite forms the question “What should I do next?”. The speaker asks which action they should take next; the question does not itself state what that action is.

6. Mets à jour les notes et partage le fichier.

   Update the notes and share the file.

   Mets à jour

   update

   les notes

   the notes

   partage

   share

   le fichier

   the file

   More detail

   Mets à jour is the informal singular imperative of the fixed expression mettre à jour, “to update.” The form mets belongs to mettre; it is not a form of jour. The same expression can be reused with other objects: Mets à jour le document. — “Update the document.” les notes means “the notes” here. notes is the plural of the feminine noun note; the plural article is les, used with both masculine and feminine plural nouns. The definite article presents the notes as identifiable in the situation, without by itself specifying how many there are. partage is the informal singular imperative of partager, “to share.” The imperative directly addresses one person and has no written subject pronoun here. For a formal singular address or for addressing several people, French uses partagez instead: Partagez le fichier. — “Share the file.” le fichier means “the file.” fichier is a masculine singular noun, so it takes the masculine singular definite article le. Its plural is les fichiers: Les fichiers sont prêts. — “The files are ready.” Together, Mets à jour les notes gives the first instruction, “Update the notes,” and et partage le fichier adds a second coordinated instruction, “and share the file.” The complete utterance is an informal singular command to update the notes and share the file. The commands are in the imperative, so the addressed person is understood rather than stated.

7. Je vais envoyer la mise à jour à l’équipe.

   I will send the update to the team.

   Je vais

   I am going to / I will

   envoyer

   send

   mise à jour

   update

   équipe

   team

   More detail

   Je vais combines the first-person singular subject je with vais, the present-tense first-person singular form of aller. Before an infinitive, aller + infinitive is a common near-future construction: it expresses what the speaker is going to do or plans to do. Here, vais does not mean physical movement. Example: Je vais lire. — “I am going to read.” A more formal or less immediate future alternative is J’enverrai, “I will send,” but that is not the form used here. envoyer is the infinitive “to send.” It follows vais in the near-future construction. The infinitive is the reusable dictionary form; the subject and tense are supplied by vais in this sentence. Example: Elle va envoyer un message. — “She is going to send a message.” mise à jour is a feminine singular noun expression meaning “update.” In this expression, mise is part of the established noun phrase, so learn the whole expression rather than treating the neighboring words as separate interchangeable translations. Its plural form is mises à jour: des mises à jour means “updates.” In the sentence, la marks the singular noun phrase: la mise à jour. équipe is a feminine noun meaning “team.” Its singular form is une équipe; its plural is des équipes. In à l’équipe, à introduces the recipient, and l’ is the elided form of the definite article before the vowel sound at the beginning of équipe. Example: Nous parlons à l’équipe. — “We are speaking to the team.” Together, Je vais envoyer gives the planned or near-future action “I am going to send,” la mise à jour is what will be sent, and à l’équipe identifies the recipient. The complete meaning is “I will send the update to the team.”

8. Alors, tout le monde aura la dernière version.

   Then everyone will have the latest version.

   Alors

   Then

   tout le monde

   everyone

   aura

   will have

   dernière

   latest

   version

   version

   More detail

   Alors introduces the consequence or next step: “then” in this sentence. It can also mean “so” or “well” in other contexts, but here it links the statement to what was mentioned before. tout le monde means “everyone.” Although it refers to multiple people in meaning, it is grammatically singular in French, so the verb form is singular: tout le monde aura, not a plural form. The article and noun group are fixed in this expression; do not replace it with a plural subject when using this pattern. aura is the third-person singular future form of avoir (“to have”). The useful form chain is avoir → aura (“will have”); the future ending here marks an event expected later. For example, Elle aura le document. means “She will have the document.” dernière describes version and means “latest” here, in the sense of the most recent version. Its base form is dernier (“last/latest”); dernière is the feminine singular form agreeing with feminine singular version. The related masculine form is dernier, as in le dernier fichier (“the latest/last file”). version is a feminine noun meaning “version.” Its gender matters for the agreeing adjective: la dernière version. For example, J’utilise la nouvelle version. means “I use the new version.” Together, tout le monde aura says “everyone will have,” and la dernière version says “the latest version.” With Alors at the beginning, the complete utterance means: “Then everyone will have the latest version.”