okiteiru_

[silver narwhal]

Please be patient

Our volunteers look into many questions every day; sometimes it takes them a little while to answer.

Pro tip: you can rename the thread title with `.tr <thread name>`

Make it descriptive, including relevant context, but also to the point. This way you improve your chances of getting a more relevant and specific answer.

[steel remnant]

i hope asking comparatively to others simple questions often is okay i wonder if im annoying asking these here sometimes

[slow yew]

here, "des" is NOT an indefinite article, it is not the plural of "un/une"
instead, it is the mandatory contraction of "de" + "les"
[la liste] + de + [les personnes] => list of people
(de indicates "les personnes" is qualifying "la liste")
also it actually uses "les" because you're talking about specific people, the ones coming for the visit

[steel remnant]

oh

[slow yew]

also, "c'est" means "this is", I'm not sure what your confusion is about
would you have thought something else would have been used instead?

[steel remnant]

oh ce sont les mêmes mots

they dont have another article for this is like english they're just both c'est?

[slow yew]

do you know about ça/cela?

[steel remnant]

c'est would be a contraction of ça and est?

i know the basics of what they mean by themselves

[slow yew]

almost; "ce" and "est", "ce" being used instead of ça/cela specifically before être
would it be singular or plural (c'est / ce sont)

[steel remnant]

i got lost somewhere sorry

in this case they're using c'est, but it makes sense why now

[slow yew]

the ce part translates to it/this/that
the est part is être, as you know, translating to is

c'est => it/this is
ce sont => these are

[steel remnant]

right okay! so c'est can mean 3 things depending the context? (if i understood correctly)

this is
that is
its?

[slow yew]

French just does not really differentiate between those

they're all bundled into one