Learn French: Bien qu'il ait beaucoup d'endurance, la falaise est dangereuse. - Although he has a lot of endurance, the cliff is dangerous.

Bien qu'il ait beaucoup d'endurance, la falaise est dangereuse.

Although he has a lot of endurance, the cliff is dangerous.

Breakdown of Bien qu'il ait beaucoup d'endurance, la falaise est dangereuse.

Questions & Answers about Bien qu'il ait beaucoup d'endurance, la falaise est dangereuse.

Why does this sentence use ait instead of a?

The phrase bien que (although) introduces a contrast or concession. In French, this conjunction always requires the following verb to be in the subjunctive mood. Here, ait is the subjunctive form of avoir (to have) for il.

Could I use quoique here instead of bien que?

Yes! Bien que and quoique both mean "although" or "even though," and both require the subjunctive. You could perfectly write Quoiqu'il ait beaucoup d'endurance... with no change in meaning.

Why is it beaucoup d'endurance rather than beaucoup de l'endurance?

After adverbs of quantity like beaucoup (a lot) or peu (a little), you use the word de (or d' before a vowel) by itself. You drop the definite article (le, la, or l') that would normally go with the noun.

Why does the adjective dangereuse end in -euse?

It has to match the gender of la falaise (the cliff), which is feminine. Adjectives that end in -eux in their masculine form, like dangereux, change to -euse when describing a feminine noun.