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Il court pour améliorer sa santé.

Il court pour améliorer sa santé.
He runs to improve his health.
From Lesson 58:Expressing purpose (pour)·French

Questions & Answers about Il court pour améliorer sa santé.

Why do we need pour before améliorer?
In English, we say "He runs to improve", using just "to". But in French, when you want to express the purpose of an action ("in order to"), you must use pour followed by the infinitive verb. Think of pour améliorer as meaning "in order to improve".
Why is the verb améliorer not conjugated?
Because it follows the preposition pour. In French, when a verb directly follows a preposition like pour, sans (without), or de (of/from), it always stays in its infinitive (dictionary) form. The only verb that gets conjugated here is the main action: court (runs).
The subject is Il (he), so why do we use sa (which I thought meant "her")?
This is a very common trap! In French, possessive words like son, sa, and ses must match the gender of the object being owned, not the owner. Since santé (health) is a feminine noun, we must use the feminine sa. It means "his health" in this sentence because the owner is Il.
Wait, doesn't court mean "short"?
It can! Court is the masculine adjective for "short", but it is also the conjugated form of the verb courir (to run) for il, elle, or on. You can tell it is a verb here because it comes directly after the subject Il.

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