Log inSign up

Elle vient d'annoncer le projet.

Elle vient d'annoncer le projet.
She just announced the project.
From Lesson 70:The recent past (venir de + infinitive)·French

Questions & Answers about Elle vient d'annoncer le projet.

Why does the sentence use vient (comes) to mean 'just'?
In French, you express that something just happened by using the present tense of venir (to come) followed by de and an infinitive verb. It literally translates to 'She comes from announcing', which is the French way of saying 'She just announced'. This structure is called the recent past.
Why is it d'annoncer instead of de annoncer?
When the little word de is followed by a word starting with a vowel (like annoncer), the 'e' is dropped and replaced with an apostrophe. This is called elision and it makes the phrase much easier to pronounce smoothly.
Why is annoncer in its infinitive (unconjugated) form if the action already happened in the past?
In the venir de structure, only the first verb (venir) gets conjugated to match the subject (Elle vient). The action verb that follows always stays in its infinitive (dictionary) form, even though we translate it using the past tense 'announced' in English.
How can I tell if vient de means 'just did something' rather than 'comes from a place'?
You look at the word right after de (or d'). If it is a verb in the infinitive, like annoncer, it means the action just happened. If it is a noun for a place, like in Elle vient de Paris, it literally means 'She comes from Paris'.

Learn Elle vient d'annoncer le projet and more in French

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning French →