Question 1

Why do we use the indirect pronoun lui in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

The verb avouer (to confess) is used with the preposition à when indicating the person you are confessing to. Because the action is directed at a person, we need an indirect object pronoun. The word lui can mean either to him or to her, but the provided translation tells us it means to him in this context.

Question 2

Why is lui placed before the verb instead of after it?

Accepted Answer

In French, object pronouns like lui almost always go immediately before the conjugated verb. Because this sentence is in the past tense, the conjugated verb is the helper verb a. Therefore, lui goes right in front of a, giving us lui a avoué.

Question 3

If erreur is a feminine word, why does the sentence use son for her mistake?

Accepted Answer

You are right that erreur is feminine, so you would normally expect the feminine possessive word sa. However, because erreur starts with a vowel, French changes sa to son to make it flow better when spoken and avoid two vowels crashing together. Remember that French possessive words match the object, not the owner!

Question 4

Since the subject Elle is feminine, why doesn't avoué have an extra e at the end?

Accepted Answer

In this past tense, the past participle avoué would only add an e to match the subject if the helper verb was être. Since the helper verb here is avoir, the past participle does not change to match the feminine subject Elle.

Elle lui a avoué son erreur hier.

Breakdown of Elle lui a avoué son erreur hier.

Questions & Answers about Elle lui a avoué son erreur hier.

Learn Elle lui a avoué son erreur hier and more in French