Question 1

How would I change this sentence to use the current lesson's grammar (se faire + infinitive) and say 'The woman got trapped by the hacker'?

Accepted Answer

You would say La femme s'est fait piéger par le pirate. The construction se faire + infinitive is used to express getting an action done to oneself, much like 'to get trapped' in English. Note a special rule here: when se faire is followed by an infinitive, the past participle fait never changes, so it doesn't add an 'e' for La femme.

Question 2

Does pirate really mean 'hacker' here? I thought it meant a pirate on a ship.

Accepted Answer

It means both! In modern contexts, especially involving computers or the internet, un pirate (or un pirate informatique) translates to a hacker. Context usually makes it clear whether you are talking about someone stealing passwords or someone sailing the high seas.

Question 3

Why is it qui a cliqué and not qu'a cliqué?

Accepted Answer

You must use qui because the woman is the subject doing the action of clicking. You use qui for subjects and que for direct objects. Since qui ends in an 'i', it never drops its vowel before another vowel, whereas que would become qu'. A handy rule for B1 learners: qui is usually followed directly by a verb, while que is followed by a new subject.

Question 4

Is cliquer a real French word or just an English word turned into French?

Accepted Answer

It is a fully accepted French word! Like many technology terms, French adopted the English root word and turned it into a regular -er verb. You conjugate it exactly like parler or aimer.

Le pirate a piégé la femme qui a cliqué.

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