French Phrase
En cours d'arts plastiques, on dessine et on peint.
Meaning
The sentence tells what typically happens in a visual‑arts class: students draw and paint. It uses the neutral pronoun "on" to describe the activity in a general way.
When to use
Use this phrase when you want to describe the content of an art lesson, answer a question about school subjects, or give a brief overview of a typical class schedule.
✦Grammar Breakdown
Encoursd'artsplastiques,ondessineetonpeint.
En cours de + noun
The structure "En cours de" (or "En cours d'") means "during a ... class" and is followed by the subject name.
Arts plastiques
A school subject that covers visual‑arts activities such as drawing, painting, sculpture, etc.
Impersonal "on"
"On" is the neutral pronoun used like "we" or "people" in everyday French; verbs stay in the 3rd‑person singular.
Present tense of regular -er verbs
"Dessiner" and "peindre" are conjugated in the present: on dessine, on peint.
🗨In Conversation
Qu'est‑ce qu'on fait en cours d'arts plastiques ?
What do we do in art class?
On dessine et on peint.
We draw and we paint.
✕Common Mistakes
En cours d'arts plastiques, on dessine et on peindre.
The verb must be conjugated to match "on"; the correct form is "peint".
En cours d'arts plastiques, on dessine et on peint.
When using "on" twice, French speakers often drop the second "on" for fluency: "on dessine et peint" is also acceptable.
En cours d'art plastiques, on dessine et on peint.
Do not add an extra "s" after "art"; the correct phrase is "arts plastiques" (plural).
↔Alternatives
En cours d'arts plastiques, nous dessinons et nous peignons.
In art class, we draw and we paint.
Pendant le cours d'arts plastiques, on fait du dessin et de la peinture.
During the art class, we do drawing and painting.
Dans le cours d'arts plastiques, on pratique le dessin et la peinture.
In the art class, we practice drawing and painting.
Cultural Tip
In French primary and secondary schools, "arts plastiques" is a compulsory subject that encourages creativity through drawing, painting, collage, and sometimes sculpture. The term "plastiques" refers to the plastic (i.e., malleable) nature of visual materials, not to plastic waste. Teachers often use "on" to describe class activities because it sounds less formal than "nous" and includes the whole class.