Learn French: Nous avons écrit sur le constat qu'il n'avait pas freiné. - We wrote on the accident report that he had not braked.

Nous avons écrit sur le constat qu'il n'avait pas freiné.

We wrote on the accident report that he had not braked.

Breakdown of Nous avons écrit sur le constat qu'il n'avait pas freiné.

sur

nous

we / us (object pronoun)

avoir

to have

Questions & Answers about Nous avons écrit sur le constat qu'il n'avait pas freiné.

Why is avait freiné in the plus-que-parfait here instead of the passé composé?

This is the rule of reported speech. Because the main reporting verb is in the past (avons écrit), the action that happened before it shifts one step further back in time. If we were speaking in the present, we would say he did not brake (il n'a pas freiné). In the past, that passé composé backshifts to the plus-que-parfait (il n'avait pas freiné).

What exactly is a constat?

In the context of driving, un constat (short for un constat amiable) is the standard European accident report form you fill out for insurance purposes after a crash.

Why are the negative words n' and pas placed around avait instead of freiné?

Just like in the passé composé, the negation in the plus-que-parfait goes around the conjugated helping verb, which is avait here. The past participle (freiné) always stays outside this negation sandwich.

Why does que become qu' before il?

In French, the word que (meaning that) must drop its e and take an apostrophe when the next word begins with a vowel sound. This rule is mandatory, so you will always see qu'il instead of que il.