Learn French: Je réussis l'examen grâce à mon professeur.

Je réussis l'examen grâce à mon professeur.

I pass the exam thanks to my teacher.

Breakdown of Je réussis l'examen grâce à mon professeur.

Questions & Answers about Je réussis l'examen grâce à mon professeur.

I thought the French word for "pass" was "passer"? Why is it "réussir" here?

In French, passer un examen actually means to take a test, not to pass it! To say you successfully passed a test, you must use the verb réussir (which literally means "to succeed").

Why does réussis end in an "s" for the je form?

Réussir is a regular -ir verb. For the je (I) form of regular -ir verbs, you drop the -ir and add -is. That gives us je réussis (I succeed / I pass).

The current lesson is about pour. Could I say pour mon professeur here instead?

You could, but it changes the meaning! Pour mon professeur means you passed the exam for your teacher (perhaps as a favor to them or to make them proud). To say you passed because of their help, you use grâce à (thanks to).

What does grâce à mean, and does the à ever change?

Grâce à means "thanks to" (and is always used for a positive reason). Because it uses the preposition à, it will combine with le to make au, or les to make aux if followed by those words. However, since the word mon (my) is right after it here, no combination is needed, so it stays as à mon.