Fixing a washing machine | Learn French in English

Sentence explanations

1. Cette machine à laver ne démarre pas.

   This washing machine won't start.

   Cette

   this

   machine à laver

   washing machine

   ne … pas

   not

   démarre

   starts

   More detail

   Cette is the feminine singular form of the French demonstrative determiner. It agrees with the feminine singular noun machine and means “this” here. Compare ce with a masculine singular noun and ces with plural nouns. machine à laver means “washing machine.” The head noun is machine, and à laver uses the infinitive laver (“to wash”) to describe the machine’s function. This is a reusable way to name an object by its purpose, as in the example une machine à écrire (“a typewriter,” literally “a machine for writing”). ne ... pas is the standard two-part French negation used here around the conjugated verb. ne appears before démarre, and pas appears after it. In informal speech, ne is often omitted, but it is present in this sentence. démarre is the third-person singular present form of démarrer, “to start.” Its subject is the singular noun phrase cette machine à laver, so the verb has the third-person singular form. The present tense describes the machine’s current failure to start; the English “won’t start” conveys that meaning without requiring a French future tense. Example: La voiture démarre. means “The car starts.” Together, Cette machine à laver is the subject, and ne démarre pas says that it does not start. The complete utterance means “This washing machine won’t start.”

2. Tu as vérifié la prise et le bouton marche ?

   Did you check the plug and the power button?

   Tu as

   you have

   vérifié

   checked

   la prise

   the plug

   le bouton

   the button

   marche

   power/on function

   More detail

   Tu as combines tu, the singular informal “you,” with as, the second-person singular present form of avoir. Here as is the auxiliary used with the following past participle to form the passé composé. Tu as vérifié means “Did you check?” in this question. A contrasting form is vous avez vérifié, used with formal or plural “you.” vérifié is the past participle of vérifier (“to check”). In tu as vérifié, as carries the person and number, while vérifié supplies the checked action. Example: Tu as vérifié la porte. — “You checked the door.” la prise means “the plug” here. prise is a feminine noun, so its definite article is la. In other contexts, prise can also mean an electrical socket; the fixed translation and the bounded context support the plug meaning here. Example: La prise est branchée. — “The plug is plugged in.” le bouton means “the button.” bouton is a masculine noun, so it takes the definite article le. In this utterance, the following marche combines with it to identify the power button. Example: Le bouton est rouge. — “The button is red.” marche is a form of marcher when it is used as a verb, and can mean “works” in a sentence such as Le bouton marche (“The button works”). In the fixed utterance, however, the native translation identifies le bouton marche as “the power button”: marche functions within that label-like noun expression, not as a separate verb asserting that the button works. The two readings must not be confused: Le bouton marche. can mean “The button works,” whereas le bouton marche in this utterance means “the power button.” The first part, Tu as vérifié la prise, asks whether the listener checked the plug. After et, le bouton marche adds “the power button,” so the utterance asks whether the plug and the power button were checked. The conversational word order and rising intonation make it a question without requiring inversion. Together, the utterance means “Did you check the plug and the power button?” It asks about those two items; it does not assert that either one was checked or that the button works.

3. La prise est branchée, mais rien ne se passe.

   The plug is in, but nothing happens.

   prise

   plug

   branchée

   plugged in

   rien

   nothing

   se passe

   happens

   More detail

   prise means “plug” here, as fixed by the translation. In French, la prise is a feminine singular noun. Its meaning can depend on context, but in this utterance it refers to the plug rather than the power button mentioned in the preceding sentence. Example: La prise est ici. — “The plug is here.” branchée means “plugged in.” It is the feminine singular form related to brancher (“to plug in” or “to connect”). The ending agrees with feminine singular prise; the corresponding masculine singular form is branché. Here, est branchée uses être plus this participle/adjectival form to describe the plug’s current state. Example: La lampe est branchée. — “The lamp is plugged in.” rien means “nothing.” In the pattern ne ... rien, it forms the standard French negation meaning “nothing” or “not anything.” The two parts are separated here because se passe is between them. Example: Je ne vois rien. — “I see nothing.” se passe is the third-person singular present form of the pronominal verb se passer, meaning “to happen” or “to take place” in this use. The subject is rien, so the verb is singular. Example: Que se passe-t-il ? — “What is happening?” The first clause, La prise est branchée, states the plug’s condition: it is plugged in. Mais means “but” and contrasts that condition with the second clause, rien ne se passe, literally “nothing happens.” Together, the utterance means: “The plug is in, but nothing happens.”

4. La porte n'est peut-être pas bien fermée.

   Maybe the door isn't closed properly.

   La porte

   the door

   n'est

   is

   peut-être

   maybe

   pas

   not

   bien

   properly

   fermée

   closed

   More detail

   La porte means “the door.” La is the feminine singular definite article, and porte is a feminine singular noun. The article identifies a specific door in this utterance; it does not itself say how many doors there are. Example: la fenêtre = “the window.” n'est is the form of être (“to be”) used with a singular third-person subject: elle est means “she/it is,” while n'est combines ne with est as part of a negative construction. In the complete phrase, the second part of the negation is pas. peut-être means “maybe” or “perhaps.” It marks the speaker's uncertainty about the statement that follows; it does not make the door uncertain as a participant. pas is the usual second element of the basic French negation ne ... pas. Here, ne is fused with est in n'est, so n'est pas means “is not.” In informal speech, ne is often omitted, but it is present in the fixed sentence. bien means “well” here and modifies the way the door is closed. In this combination, pas bien fermée means “not closed properly,” rather than simply “not closed.” Example: La porte est bien fermée. = “The door is closed properly.” fermée means “closed” here. It is the feminine singular form of the past participle fermé from fermer (“to close”), agreeing with the feminine singular noun porte. The masculine singular form is fermé; the feminine form adds -e. With être, this form describes the resulting state: La porte est fermée = “The door is closed.” Together, n'est ... pas supplies the negation, peut-être expresses uncertainty, and bien fermée describes the condition of the door. The complete utterance means: “Maybe the door isn't closed properly.”

5. Les instructions disent qu'il faut entendre un clic avant qu'elle démarre.

   The instructions say it should click before it starts.

   Les instructions disent

   The instructions say

   qu'il faut entendre un clic

   that you need to hear a click

   avant qu'elle démarre

   before it starts

   More detail

   The sentence means: “The instructions say that you need to hear a click before it starts.” “Il faut” expresses necessity, and “avant que” means “before” and is followed here by the subjunctive “démarre.”

6. Pousse encore une fois sur la porte, puis appuie sur le bouton de démarrage.

   Push the door once more, then press start.

   Pousse

   Push

   encore une fois

   once more

   sur

   on / against

   la porte

   the door

   puis

   then

   appuie

   press

   le bouton

   the button

   démarrage

   start / starting

   More detail

   Pousse is the imperative of pousser (“to push”) for tu. The imperative gives a direct instruction; the subject is normally omitted. Compare pousser (to push), je pousse (I push), and pousse ! (push!). encore une fois means “once more” here: it asks for another repetition of the pushing action. Encore can also mean “still” or “again” in other contexts, so the full expression makes the repeated action clear. sur means “on” or “against” in this use. With pousser, pousser sur quelque chose describes applying force against something. The preposition is part of the useful pattern: pousser sur la porte (“push against the door”). la porte means “the door.” Porte is the noun; its base form is porte, and la is the feminine singular definite article used with this noun. The phrase identifies the object receiving the push, without stating who operates it beyond the omitted tu understood by the imperative. Puis means “then” and links the two instructions in sequence: first one action, then the next. It does not itself express the action or the time needed between the actions. appuie is the imperative of appuyer (“to press” or “to push down”) for tu. In this sentence, appuyer sur is the relevant pattern for pressing a control. For example, Appuie sur ce bouton. means “Press this button.” le bouton means “the button.” Bouton is a masculine singular noun, so it takes the definite article le here. In appuyer sur le bouton, the button is the object being pressed; the preposition sur is retained in this French construction. démarrage means “starting” or “start-up.” It is a noun related to démarrer (“to start”), and in le bouton de démarrage, de démarrage specifies the button’s function: it is the start button. The French phrase is therefore not a standalone imperative “start” here; it names the control to press. Together, Pousse encore une fois sur la porte means “Push the door once more,” and puis appuie sur le bouton de démarrage means “then press the start button.” The whole utterance is a sequence of two direct instructions: repeat the push on the door, and afterward press the button used for starting.

7. La porte a fait un clic, et maintenant ça marche.

   The door clicked, and now it works.

   porte

   door

   a fait

   made; produced

   clic

   click

   maintenant

   now

   ça marche

   it works

   More detail

   porte means “door” here. It is a feminine noun: une porte means “a door,” while la porte means “the door.” The noun is singular in this sentence, and the article agrees with its feminine singular form. a fait is the third-person singular passé composé of faire (“to do; to make”). a is the present-tense form of avoir, and fait is the past participle of faire. Together, they present the action as completed; here the natural translation is “clicked” because the door produced a click. The useful pattern is avoir in the present + past participle for a completed past event. clic is a masculine noun meaning “click,” referring here to the short sound or event. un clic means “a click.” Example: Le bouton fait un clic. — “The button makes a click.” maintenant means “now.” It places the second situation in the present, after the completed event in the first clause. Example: Maintenant, tout va bien. — “Now, everything is fine.” ça marche is a common informal expression meaning “it works” or “it is working.” ça is an informal demonstrative pronoun meaning roughly “that” or “it”; its grammatical form does not itself identify a more specific referent. marche is the third-person singular present form of marcher; in this expression, marcher means “to work” or “to function,” not literally “to walk.” Example: Cette méthode marche. — “This method works.” The first clause, La porte a fait un clic, says that the door produced a click. et links it to maintenant ça marche, which says that the relevant thing or situation now works. Together, the utterance means: “The door clicked, and now it works.”

8. Parfois, de simples vérifications règlent le problème.

   Sometimes simple checks solve the problem.

   Parfois

   sometimes

   simples

   simple

   vérifications

   checks

   règlent

   solve

   problème

   problem

   More detail

   Parfois means “sometimes” and places the statement in a recurring but non-constant time pattern. It is an adverb, so it does not change for number or gender. Example: Parfois, je vérifie la porte. — “Sometimes I check the door.” simples describes the checks as uncomplicated. Its base form is simple; here it is feminine plural because it agrees with vérifications. The final -s marks the plural in writing; the adjective’s pronunciation generally does not change. Example: de simples questions — “simple questions.” vérifications is the plural of the noun vérification, meaning a check or verification. It is related to the verb vérifier, “to check,” but the noun and verb are different forms. Here, vérifications is the subject: the checks are presented as carrying out the action. Example: Une vérification suffit. — “One check is enough.” règlent means “solve” here. It is the present indicative, third-person plural form of régler; the plural subject is de simples vérifications. In this form, the accent changes in the stem: je règle, but ils/elles règlent. The verb régler can also mean “adjust” or “settle” in other contexts, but here its object is a problem, so “solve” is the relevant meaning. Example: Ces mesures règlent le problème. — “These measures solve the problem.” problème is the singular noun “problem.” In the utterance, it appears with the definite article le as le problème, referring to the problem being solved; the noun itself remains singular. Example: Le problème est simple. — “The problem is simple.” Together, de simples vérifications is the plural subject, règlent is the present-tense verb agreeing with that subject, and le problème is the object. Thus the whole utterance means: “Sometimes simple checks solve the problem.”