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L'inspecteur cherchait le voleur, mais il était déjà en prison.

L'inspecteur cherchait le voleur, mais il était déjà en prison.
The inspector was looking for the thief, but he was already in prison.
From Lesson 171:The past infinitive (après avoir, après être)·French

Questions & Answers about L'inspecteur cherchait le voleur, mais il était déjà en prison.

Why is there no word for 'for' after cherchait?
In French, the verb chercher inherently means to look for or to seek. The preposition is already built into the meaning of the verb, so you should never add pour after it.
Why are both verbs (cherchait and était) in the imperfect tense here?
Both parts of the sentence describe ongoing situations or background states in the past. The inspector was in the middle of looking (cherchait), and the thief being in prison was an ongoing state (était) rather than a single completed action.
Why do we use en prison instead of dans la prison?
Using en directly before a noun without an article often describes a general state or condition. En prison simply means being incarcerated. If you used dans la prison, it would emphasize being physically located inside a specific prison building.
This lesson covers the past infinitive. Why can't we use a structure like après être allé en prison to connect these ideas?
The past infinitive requires both actions to share the exact same subject. In this sentence, the inspector is the one searching, but the thief is the one in prison. Because there are two completely different subjects, we cannot use an infinitive phrase and must use two separate conjugated clauses instead.

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