Breakdown of Elle venait de publier son roman, et elle en était comblée.
être
to be
elle
she
et
and
son
his/her/its (son, sa, ses)
venir
to come
publier
to publish
le roman
the novel
en
of it / of them (quantity)
de
to (introducing an infinitive after a verb)
comblé
fulfilled
Questions & Answers about Elle venait de publier son roman, et elle en était comblée.
Why is venait in the imparfait here instead of the passé composé?
The expression venir de + an infinitive means 'to have just done something'. When used in the imparfait (like venait de publier), it shifts this 'recent past' into the past narrative, meaning she 'had just published' it. If you used the passé composé (elle est venue de), it would literally mean she physically came from a place to publish it, completely losing the 'had just' meaning.
What exactly is the pronoun en replacing in the second clause?
Why is there an extra 'e' at the end of comblée?
Since we are learning about anteriority (actions happening before other actions), why isn't the Subjonctif Passé used here?
While the Subjonctif Passé does show that an action happened before another, it can only be used when the grammatical structure triggers the subjunctive (like after expressions of emotion such as je suis content que). This sentence is a statement of fact using the coordinating conjunction et, which requires the indicative mood. Here, the 'past before the past' is simply expressed by the imparfait of venir de.
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