Breakdown of Après avoir fouillé la maison, l'inspecteur a tout compris.
la maison
the house
avoir
to have
comprendre
to understand
tout
all, everything
après
after
fouiller
to search
l'inspecteur
the inspector (m)
Questions & Answers about Après avoir fouillé la maison, l'inspecteur a tout compris.
In English, we say "After searching" (-ing). Why don't we use the French "-ing" form (en fouillant) here?
In French, the preposition après must always be followed by the past infinitive, which is made of the infinitive avoir or être plus a past participle. It can never take a present participle (the -ant form). While English prefers "After searching," the literal French structure is "After having searched."
Why do we use the infinitive avoir instead of conjugating it, like Après il a fouillé?
Why is tout placed in the middle of a compris instead of at the end?
When the pronoun tout (meaning "everything") is the direct object in a compound tense like the passé composé, it is placed between the auxiliary verb (a) and the past participle (compris). Saying il a compris tout is grammatically incorrect in French.
Could I use cherché instead of fouillé in this sentence?
Chercher generally means "to look for" a specific thing (e.g., searching for your keys). Fouiller means "to search through" or "to rummage." Since the inspector is thoroughly investigating the physical space of the house rather than just looking for one known object, fouiller is the exact right word here.
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