Breakdown of Je crois que c'était un brave homme.
je
I
être
to be
un
a / an (masculine)
l'homme
the man (m)
ce
it / this (with être)
croire
to believe
que
that (introducing a clause)
brave
brave (also good, decent)
Questions & Answers about Je crois que c'était un brave homme.
Why does brave come before homme here, and why does it translate to "good" instead of "brave"?
This is one of those special adjectives that changes meaning depending on where it is placed! When brave comes before the noun, it means "good", "decent", or "honest" (as in a "good guy").
How would I say "He was a brave (courageous) man" then?
Why does the sentence use c'était (it was) instead of il était (he was)?
In French, when you use the verb être (to be) followed by a modified noun (a noun with an article like un, plus any adjectives), you must use ce (c'est or c'était) instead of il or elle. Because we have the full noun phrase un brave homme, we have to use c'était. If it were just an adjective by itself, you would use il était (for example, il était grand).
Doesn't que often mean I need to use the subjunctive? Why is c'était just the regular imperfect tense here?
Verbs expressing belief or certainty, like croire (to believe) and penser (to think), take the normal indicative mood when they are affirmative. You only use the subjunctive with these verbs if the sentence is negative (je ne crois pas que...) or a question (crois-tu que...), because in those cases you are expressing doubt.
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