Learn French: Ayant survécu à l'exil, le poète a écrit ce roman malgré la tristesse. - Having survived the exile, the poet wrote this novel despite the sadness.

Ayant survécu à l'exil, le poète a écrit ce roman malgré la tristesse.

Having survived the exile, the poet wrote this novel despite the sadness.

Breakdown of Ayant survécu à l'exil, le poète a écrit ce roman malgré la tristesse.

avoir

to have

this (before a noun)

at / to / in (general locations) / about (what one thinks about / reacts to)

écrire

to write

Questions & Answers about Ayant survécu à l'exil, le poète a écrit ce roman malgré la tristesse.

Why do we use Ayant survécu here instead of just Survivant?

Ayant survécu is the perfect participle. It is used to show that the action of surviving was completely finished before the main action (writing the novel) took place. If you used the present participle survivant, it would imply the poet was writing the novel at the exact same time as surviving the exile.

Why is there an à in survécu à l'exil when we just say "survived the exile" in English?

Unlike the English verb, the French verb survivre is an indirect transitive verb that requires the preposition à when stating what was survived. You must always say survivre à quelque chose or survivre à quelqu'un.

How do I know to use ayant rather than étant to form this perfect participle?

The perfect participle always uses the same auxiliary verb that the main verb takes in the passé composé. Because you say il a survécu (using avoir), you must use ayant. You would only use étant for verbs that take être, such as reflexive verbs or verbs of motion like aller or arriver.

Could we use bien que instead of malgré to say "despite the sadness"?