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Qui a succédé à ce poète célèbre ?

Qui a succédé à ce poète célèbre ?
Who succeeded this famous poet?
From Lesson 302:Perfect participles (ayant / étant)·French

Questions & Answers about Qui a succédé à ce poète célèbre ?

Why is there an à after succédé?
In English, the verb to succeed (meaning to take over a role from someone) is direct, as in to succeed someone. In French, succéder is an indirect transitive verb, meaning it requires the preposition à. Therefore, you must say succéder à quelqu'un.
How would you use the perfect participle taught in this lesson to say: Having succeeded this famous poet, he wrote a book?
You would say: Ayant succédé à ce poète célèbre, il a écrit un livre. The perfect participle is formed using the present participle of the auxiliary verb (ayant because succéder takes avoir) followed by the past participle (succédé).
If we changed the sentence to 'The poet whom she succeeded', would succédé need a feminine agreement?
No, it would not. The phrase would be Le poète à qui elle a succédé. Past participles used with avoir only agree with a preceding direct object. Because succéder takes an indirect object introduced by à, it never triggers past participle agreement.
Why doesn't this question use inversion or est-ce que?
When the question word qui (who) is the subject of the sentence, you do not use inversion or add est-ce que. The sentence just follows standard subject-verb-object order: Qui (subject) + a succédé (verb).
Can succéder also mean to be successful?
No, this is a partial false friend. While the English verb can mean to achieve success or to take over a position, the French verb succéder à only means to take over a position or follow someone in a sequence. To say to be successful, you would use réussir or avoir du succès.

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