Breakdown of Le jardinier vient de tondre la pelouse.
de
of / from / any (in negative sentences) / about (concerning)
venir
to come
le jardinier
the gardener
tondre
to mow
la pelouse
the lawn
Questions & Answers about Le jardinier vient de tondre la pelouse.
How would I use the causative faire to say 'I just had the gardener mow the lawn'?
You would use the causative construction faire + infinitive. The sentence becomes Je viens de faire tondre la pelouse au jardinier. Notice that the gardener is now introduced by au (à + le). In causative sentences, if the action verb (tondre) already has a direct object (la pelouse), the person performing the action becomes an indirect object introduced by à.
Why does this sentence use vient de tondre instead of the passé composé (a tondu)?
The structure venir de followed by an infinitive is the recent past (passé récent). It specifically means that an action just happened. While a tondu simply means 'mowed', vient de tondre translates to 'just mowed'.
Can the verb tondre be used for cutting other things, like hair?
If I want to replace la pelouse with the pronoun la (it), where does it go in this sentence?
The object pronoun goes immediately before the verb it is connected to. Since it is the direct object of tondre (to mow), you place it right before that infinitive: Le jardinier vient de la tondre.
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