Breakdown of La fée entendit la princesse pleurer dans la forêt.
dans
in, inside
la forêt
the forest
entendre
to hear
pleurer
to cry
la princesse
the princess
la fée
the fairy
Questions & Answers about La fée entendit la princesse pleurer dans la forêt.
I don't recognize the verb form entendit. What tense is this?
Why is pleurer (to cry) in the infinitive here?
When using verbs of perception like entendre (to hear) or voir (to see), French puts the action being perceived in the infinitive. The structure is: verb of perception + person/thing + infinitive. So, entendit la princesse pleurer works just like English "heard the princess cry".
If I wanted to say "heard the princess crying", would I use a different form of pleurer?
No, it would be exactly the same! French does not have an "-ing" equivalent for this type of sentence. The infinitive pleurer covers both "heard the princess cry" and "heard the princess crying".
Is there a historical reason why forêt has a circumflex accent (the little hat over the e)?
Yes! A circumflex often indicates that an "s" used to follow that vowel in Old French but was dropped over the centuries. You can see the ghost of that "s" in the English translation: "forest".
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