Learn French: Nous avons fait le ménage hier. - We did the housework yesterday.

Nous avons fait le ménage hier.

We did the housework yesterday.

Breakdown of Nous avons fait le ménage hier.

nous

we / us (object pronoun)

the housework / the cleaning

Questions & Answers about Nous avons fait le ménage hier.

Why do we need avons here? Doesn't fait mean 'did'?

In French, the most common past tense (the Passé Composé) needs two parts: a helper verb and a past action word. Here, avons (we have) is the helper and fait (done) is the action. So, the French literally say "We have done" instead of just "We did."

Why is the past tense of faire spelled fait?

Fait is an irregular past participle. While regular verbs follow predictable spelling patterns in the past tense, high-frequency verbs like faire (to do / to make) often have special forms you simply have to memorize.

What does le ménage mean on its own?

It means "the housework" or "the cleaning." The combination faire le ménage is a very common everyday expression in French for "doing the housework" or "cleaning the house."

Is the 't' at the end of fait pronounced?

No, the t at the end of fait is silent. You just say the first part, which sounds similar to the English word "fay," but with a slightly shorter "eh" sound.