Breakdown of Le guerrier ne comprend pas pourquoi éviter le combat.
ne
not (used before the verb)
comprendre
to understand
pas
not (used after the verb)
pourquoi
why
le
him, it (masculine direct object pronoun)
éviter
to avoid
le guerrier
the warrior
le combat
the combat
Questions & Answers about Le guerrier ne comprend pas pourquoi éviter le combat.
Why do we use the infinitive éviter directly after pourquoi here?
This is an indirect question. When the subject of the main verb (Le guerrier) is the same as the person who would do the action, you can often use a question word + infinitive instead of building a full clause. It works just like the English translation: "why to avoid".
Could I say this using a conjugated verb instead of the infinitive?
Yes! You could use a full subject and conjugated verb after pourquoi. For example: Le guerrier ne comprend pas pourquoi il doit éviter le combat (The warrior doesn't understand why he must avoid combat). Using the infinitive is just a shorter, very natural alternative.
Why is there a le before combat when the English translation just says "combat"?
In French, nouns almost always require an article, especially when talking about a concept in a general sense. While English can drop the article and just say "avoid combat", French needs the definite article le to say éviter le combat.
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