notadictionary.com
J'écoutais votre débat sur les céréales ou le lait avant... Je vous confirme qu'il faut d'abord mettre le bol...
→ “I was listening to your debate about cereal or milk before... I confirm to you that you have to put the bowl down first...”
J'écoutais — I was listening / I used to listen → here, it's the imperfect tense of écouter, describing an ongoing past action; present stem 'écout-' + imperfect ending '-ais'
votre — your → possessive adjective modifying 'débat'; indicates ownership by the person(s) being addressed
débat — debate → noun; the topic being discussed
sur — on / about → preposition introducing the subject matter of the debate
les céréales — the cereals → noun (feminine plural); the food item in question
ou — or → conjunction presenting an alternative option
le lait — the milk → noun (masculine singular); the other food item in the debate
avant — before / previously → adverb indicating prior time; sets up the contrast for the current statement
Je — I → subject pronoun; introduces the speaker's confirmation
vous — you → object pronoun; the people being confirmed to
confirme — confirm → present tense, 3rd-person singular of confirmer; main verb of this clause
qu' — that → contracted form of 'que' before vowel sound; introduces the subordinate clause explaining necessity
il faut — must / need → informal contraction of 'il faut', expressing obligation or necessity
d'abord — first / initially → adverb indicating sequence; emphasizes priority in the action
mettre — to put / to place → infinitive verb; describes the required action
le bol — the bowl → noun (masculine singular); the object that must be placed first
