Breakdown of Les acrobates que nous avons regardés sauter dans le cerceau sont géniaux.
être
to be
nous
we / us (object pronoun)
dans
in, inside
avoir
to have
regarder
to watch
le
him, it (masculine direct object pronoun)
génial
great/brilliant
que
that (introducing a clause)
l'acrobate
the acrobat (m)
sauter
to jump
le cerceau
the hoop
Questions & Answers about Les acrobates que nous avons regardés sauter dans le cerceau sont géniaux.
Why is there an "s" on regardés when the auxiliary verb is avoir?
Normally, with avoir, the past participle agrees with the preceding direct object. Here, the preceding direct object is que (representing the masculine plural les acrobates). But because regarder is a verb of perception followed by an infinitive (sauter), there is an extra condition: agreement only happens if the direct object is the one actually performing the action of the infinitive. Since the acrobats are indeed the ones jumping, regardés takes an -s to agree with them.
What would happen if the direct object wasn't doing the action of the infinitive?
If the preceding direct object is the receiver of the action rather than the doer, the past participle of the perception verb stays invariable (no agreement). For example, if you said "The song that we listened to being sung", it would be La chanson que nous avons écouté chanter. Even though chanson is feminine, écouté does not get an -e because the song isn't doing the singing.
Why does the French use dans instead of à travers for jumping "through" the hoop?
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