Breakdown of Afin de demander le financement, le chercheur doit soumettre un dossier détaillé.
un
a / an (masculine)
devoir
to have to / must
le dossier
the file / the folder
le chercheur
the researcher
demander
to ask (for) / to require / demand
afin de
in order to
le financement
the funding
soumettre
to submit
détaillé
detailed
Questions & Answers about Afin de demander le financement, le chercheur doit soumettre un dossier détaillé.
Why do we use afin de here instead of just pour?
Both mean "in order to," but afin de is more formal. You will often see it in professional, academic, or administrative contexts, like a researcher requesting funding. Notice that it is followed directly by the infinitive verb demander, just like pour would be.
Does demander mean "to demand"?
No, demander is a "false friend." It simply means "to ask" or "to request." If the researcher were actually "demanding" the funding in a forceful way, you would use a verb like exiger.
Why is there a le before financement when the English translation just says "funding"?
In French, general concepts and nouns almost always require an article. Even though we often just say "funding" in English, French requires the definite article le to specify the concept.
What exactly does un dossier mean in this context?
While un dossier often translates to "a folder" or "a physical file," in administrative situations like this, it means an "application" or "submission file." It refers to the entire collection of documents the researcher needs to submit.
Why is soumettre in the infinitive here?
When you have two verbs back-to-back and the first one is conjugated (here, doit from the verb devoir), the second verb stays in its infinitive form. The phrase doit soumettre translates to "must submit" or "has to submit".
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