Breakdown of Il gouverne le pays depuis dix ans, ayant succédé au roi.
il
he
avoir
to have
le pays
the country
le roi
the king
dix
ten
l'an
the year (m)
depuis
since/for
gouverner
to govern
succéder à
to succeed (take the place of, come after)
Questions & Answers about Il gouverne le pays depuis dix ans, ayant succédé au roi.
Why does this sentence use ayant instead of étant for the perfect participle?
The perfect participle is formed using the present participle of the auxiliary verb (ayant or étant) plus the past participle of the main verb (succédé). Because succéder uses avoir as its auxiliary in compound tenses, we use ayant. You only use étant for reflexive verbs and the specific movement or state-change verbs that take être.
Why is it au roi and not just le roi?
The French verb is succéder à, meaning it requires an indirect object. In French, you don't succeed someone directly; you succeed to them. Here, the preposition à combines with the definite article le to form au, giving us au roi.
Why is gouverne in the present tense when the English translation says 'He has been governing'?
When an action started in the past and is still ongoing in the present, French uses the present tense combined with depuis (meaning 'for' or 'since'). English uses the present perfect continuous for this, but using a past tense in French here would incorrectly imply the action is completely finished and he is no longer governing.
Does the past participle succédé ever change its ending to agree with the subject or object?
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