French Grammar – Were you talking about this book? 🇫🇷

Ce

Singular and masculine, use ce.

7 months ago

Adjectives

French demonstrative adjectives
this / that these / those
masculine ce ces
masc + vowel cet ces
feminine cette ces

7 months ago

Parliez-vous de ____ livre?

In French, when referring to a masculine singular noun like “livre” (book), which is in this context the object of the preposition “de” (about), the correct demonstrative adjective to use for “this” is “ce”. Therefore, when asking “Were you talking about this book?” in French, you use “ce” to match the gender and the number of the noun that follows.

The phrase “Parliez-vous de ce livre ?” uses “ce” because “livre” is masculine singular. If the noun were feminine singular, like “chaise” (chair), you would use “cette” instead (e.g., “Parliez-vous de cette chaise ?”). For masculine plural nouns, like “livres” (books), you would use “ces” (e.g., “Parliez-vous de ces livres ?”), and the same “ces” is used for feminine plural nouns, like “chaises” (chairs).

To sum up, “ce” is used because it agrees with the masculine singular noun “livre” in gender and number when combined with the preposition “de”.

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