Breakdown of La belle statue a disparu il y a longtemps.
avoir
to have
beau
beautiful / handsome
longtemps
for a long time
il y a
ago
disparaître
to disappear
la statue
the statue
Questions & Answers about La belle statue a disparu il y a longtemps.
Doesn't il y a usually mean "there is"? How does it mean "ago" here?
You're right that il y a normally means "there is" or "there are". However, when you use il y a followed directly by a length of time (like longtemps), it becomes a past time marker meaning "ago". So, il y a longtemps literally means "there is a long time (that has passed)," which translates to "a long time ago".
Why does disparaître (to disappear) use avoir in the past tense instead of être? Doesn't it describe a change of state?
It does feel like a change of state, which can be tricky! However, disparaître is not on the specific list of motion or state-change verbs (often taught as the Vandertramp verbs) that use être to form the passé composé. It takes the standard auxiliary verb avoir, which is why we say a disparu.
The French uses a disparu (has disappeared), so why does the English translation just say "disappeared"?
In French, the passé composé is the everyday tense for completed past actions. While it literally looks like "has disappeared", English grammar requires the simple past tense ("disappeared") whenever we use a specific time marker like "ago". The French passé composé naturally covers both of those English past tenses.
Why is belle placed before statue when most French adjectives go after the noun?
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