Learn French: Il est fatigué parce qu'il travaille très tard.

Il est fatigué parce qu'il travaille très tard.

He is tired because he works very late.

Breakdown of Il est fatigué parce qu'il travaille très tard.

Questions & Answers about Il est fatigué parce qu'il travaille très tard.

Why does this sentence use parce que (because) instead of pour (for / in order to) since this lesson is about pour?

Pour shows a goal or purpose and is usually followed by an infinitive verb (like pour travailler = in order to work). But this sentence gives a reason or cause for his tiredness, not a goal. To explain a reason using a full mini-sentence with a subject and a verb (il travaille), you must use parce que.

Why is there an apostrophe in parce qu'il?

The phrase for "because" is parce que. In French, when a short word ending in e is followed by a word starting with a vowel, like il (he), the e is dropped and replaced with an apostrophe. This makes the words flow together smoothly. So, parce que il becomes parce qu'il.

Would the word fatigué change if we were talking about a woman?

Yes. Because fatigué (tired) is a describing word (an adjective) linked to il (he), it is in the masculine form. If the subject were elle (she), you would add an e to make it feminine: Elle est fatiguée. It sounds exactly the same when spoken, but the spelling changes.

I noticed tard looks a bit like the English word "tired". Are they related?