Learn French: Elle a dit qu'un vélo avait percuté la portière. - She said that a bike had struck the car door.

Elle a dit qu'un vélo avait percuté la portière.

She said that a bike had struck the car door.

Breakdown of Elle a dit qu'un vélo avait percuté la portière.

Questions & Answers about Elle a dit qu'un vélo avait percuté la portière.

Why does the sentence use avait percuté (had struck) instead of a percuté (struck)?

This is the rule for reported speech! If her original words were "A bike struck the door" (Un vélo a percuté la portière), that original passé composé must shift one step further back into the past because the introductory verb (a dit) is in the past. It becomes the plus-que-parfait (avait percuté).

Why use la portière instead of la porte?

La portière is the specific word for a vehicle door (like on a car or a train). If the bike had crashed into the door of a house or a room, you would use la porte.

Could I use the verb frapper instead of percuter here?

You could be understood, but percuter is the most natural choice. It means "to crash into" or "to collide with," which fits a moving bike hitting a car. Frapper is usually more like "to hit" or "to knock," like a person hitting a door with their hand.

Why is it qu'un vélo rather than que un vélo?

The word que (that) always drops its e and takes an apostrophe when the next word begins with a vowel sound. Since un starts with a vowel, que un becomes qu'un to make the pronunciation smoother.