Question 1

Why do we use the plus-que-parfait (avait endommagé) instead of the passé composé here?

Accepted Answer

This is because of the rules of reported speech. If the witness originally used the passé composé for their statement ("Le camion a endommagé le mur"), that tense steps one level further back into the past when you report it using a past tense like a dit. Therefore, the passé composé backshifts to the plus-que-parfait (avait endommagé).

Question 2

Could we leave out the word que like we sometimes leave out "that" in English?

Accepted Answer

No, you can never skip que in French! While in English you can simply say "The witness said the truck had damaged the wall," in French, you must always include que to connect the two parts of the sentence.

Question 3

Does the word témoin change to feminine if the witness is a woman?

Accepted Answer

Traditionally, le témoin is always masculine, even if the person witnessing the event is female. While you might occasionally see la témoin in modern everyday French, le témoin remains standard and correct for any gender.

Question 4

Is there a liaison between avait and endommagé?

Accepted Answer

Yes! Because the helping verb avait ends in a consonant and the past participle endommagé starts with a vowel, you must make a liaison. You pronounce the "t" at the end of avait to link the words smoothly together.

Le témoin a dit que le camion avait endommagé le mur.

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