Il a beau pêcher toute la journée, son seau est vide.
He fishes all day in vain, his bucket is empty.
Breakdown of Il a beau pêcher toute la journée, son seau est vide.
être
to be
il
he
son
his/her/its (son, sa, ses)
le
him, it (masculine direct object pronoun)
tout
all, everything
la journée
the day
vide
empty
pêcher
to fish
avoir beau
to try in vain to
le seau
the bucket
Questions & Answers about Il a beau pêcher toute la journée, son seau est vide.
How exactly does a beau pêcher translate to "fishes in vain"?
The phrase uses the concessive expression avoir beau followed by an infinitive verb (here, pêcher). While it looks like it literally means "to have beautiful," it actually expresses that an action is done uselessly or without the desired effect. You can translate it as doing something "in vain" or "No matter how much he fishes..."
If the subject were feminine, like Elle, would beau change to belle?
Why isn't there a connecting word like "but" before son seau est vide?
The expression avoir beau already has the contrast built right into it. It sets up an "Even though..." or "Despite..." relationship between the two halves of the sentence. Because of this, adding a word like mais (but) to connect them would be redundant in French.
Why use toute la journée instead of tout le jour to say "all day"?
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