Tu as besoin d'un pinceau pour finir celui-ci.

Questions & Answers about Tu as besoin d'un pinceau pour finir celui-ci.

The lesson says object pronouns go before the infinitive. Why does celui-ci go after finir?
The rule about putting the pronoun before the verb applies to short pronoun words like le, la, les, me, and te. For example, "to finish it" would be pour le finir. But celui-ci (this one) is a heavier demonstrative pronoun that acts like a regular noun, so it stays in the normal object position after the verb.
Why does the sentence use d'un instead of just un?
In French, the phrase for "to need" is avoir besoin de (literally "to have need of"). The de is mandatory in this expression, and because un begins with a vowel, de drops its vowel and shrinks to d' to make d'un.
Doesn't the infinitive finir already mean "to finish"? Why do we need pour?
When the English word "to" actually means "in order to" (expressing a purpose or goal), French uses pour followed by the infinitive. Because you need the paintbrush in order to finish the task, you must say pour finir.
How does celui-ci translate to "this one"?
Celui is a pronoun that means "the one" and replaces a masculine singular noun. Adding the suffix -ci (related to ici, meaning "here") makes it specifically "this one." If you wanted to point to something further away and say "that one," you would use celui-là.

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