Learn French: Elle m'a pardonné, donc je ne suis plus triste.

Elle m'a pardonné, donc je ne suis plus triste.

She forgave me, so I am no longer sad.

Breakdown of Elle m'a pardonné, donc je ne suis plus triste.

Questions & Answers about Elle m'a pardonné, donc je ne suis plus triste.

Why does m' come before the verb instead of after it?

In French, object pronouns like m' (to me) always go directly before the conjugated verb. In the Passé Composé, the conjugated verb is the helper verb (here, a). So, the pronoun is placed right before a, becoming m'a pardonné.

Is m' a direct or an indirect object here?

It is an indirect object! In English we say 'forgive someone' (which is direct), but in French the verb is pardonner à quelqu'un (literally 'to forgive to someone'). The m' here stands for à moi (to me).

Since the subject is Elle (she), shouldn't pardonné have an extra 'e' at the end?

No, because pardonner uses the helper verb avoir. With avoir, the past participle never agrees with the subject. Also, while it can sometimes agree with a direct object placed before the verb, m' is an indirect object here, so there is no agreement.

Where is the pas in je ne suis plus triste?

The phrase ne ... plus is a negative pair that means 'no longer' or 'not anymore'. It takes the place of the standard ne ... pas (not). You wrap it around the conjugated verb exactly the same way to make it negative: je ne suis plus (I am no longer).