Word
Il leur a dit un mensonge parce qu'il a peur.
Meaning
He told them a lie because he is afraid.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Il leur a dit un mensonge parce qu'il a peur.
un
a / an (masculine)
il
he
avoir
to have
parce que
because
Questions & Answers about Il leur a dit un mensonge parce qu'il a peur.
Why is the word leur used here instead of les?
leur is an indirect object pronoun meaning "to them." We use it here because the verb dire (to say or to tell) takes an indirect object for the person you are speaking to (you say something TO someone). If you used the direct object les, it would mean you are literally speaking the people themselves as the words.
Where exactly does leur go in a past tense sentence like this?
Object pronouns like leur always go right in front of the conjugated verb. Because this sentence is in the passé composé (a past tense), the conjugated verb is the helper verb a (from avoir). So, leur must go immediately before a, not before the past participle dit.
Why does the French sentence say a peur instead of using the verb "to be"?
Why is the first half of the sentence in the past tense (a dit) and the second half in the present tense (a peur)?