Breakdown of Le garçon parvient à esquiver le coup.
le garçon
the boy
le
him, it (masculine direct object pronoun)
parvenir à
to manage to
esquiver
to dodge
le coup
the blow
Questions & Answers about Le garçon parvient à esquiver le coup.
Why do we need the à before esquiver?
The verb parvenir requires the preposition à before a following infinitive when it means "to manage to" or "to succeed in". Just like apprendre à (to learn to) or commencer à (to start to), you have to memorize that parvenir connects to the next verb using à.
Could I use réussit à instead of parvient à in this sentence?
Yes, absolutely! Réussir à and parvenir à both mean "to manage to" and both take the preposition à before an infinitive. Parvenir à just sounds a little bit more formal or implies that dodging the blow took a real effort.
Doesn't parvenir usually mean "to reach"?
It can! If it is followed by a noun, it usually means "to reach" a destination (for example, parvenir au sommet means "to reach the top"). But when it is followed by à and an infinitive verb (like esquiver here), the meaning shifts to "managing to" do that action.
Is parvient a completely new irregular verb to memorize?
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