Breakdown of Le journaliste réussirait à révéler ce scoop sur l'économie.
sur
on
ce
this (before a noun)
réussir
to succeed
le journaliste
the journalist
le scoop
the scoop
l'économie
the economy (f)
révéler
to reveal
à
to (introducing an infinitive after a verb)
Questions & Answers about Le journaliste réussirait à révéler ce scoop sur l'économie.
Why is réussirait translated as "reportedly manages" instead of "would manage"?
In French journalism, the conditional tense (like réussirait) is frequently used to report unconfirmed information, claims, or rumors. It acts much like the English words "reportedly" or "allegedly". So, instead of its literal conditional meaning "would manage", it translates here to "reportedly manages".
Why do we need the word à between réussirait and révéler?
The verb réussir (to succeed / to manage to) requires the preposition à when it is followed by another verb in the infinitive. Many French verbs have specific prepositions they pair with, and réussir à is a very common one you just have to memorize!
Is scoop a real French word?
Yes! French borrows a number of words from English, especially in the media and business worlds. Un scoop means exactly what it does in English: an exclusive piece of news. It is treated as a masculine noun, which is why it uses the masculine demonstrative adjective ce (this) instead of the feminine cette.
Since the current lesson is about il s'agit de (it is about), could we use it here instead of sur for "about the economy"?
Not in the exact same spot. Il s'agit de is a complete verbal expression meaning "it is a matter of" or "it is about". You could phrase it as a new clause, such as: Dans ce scoop, il s'agit de l'économie (In this scoop, it is about the economy). But to simply attach "about the economy" directly to a noun as a description, you just use the preposition sur (on/about).
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