Breakdown of Les clowns que j'ai vus jongler étaient hilarants.
je
I
être
to be
avoir
to have
voir
to see
le
him, it (masculine direct object pronoun)
que
that (introducing a clause)
le clown
the clown
hilarant
hilarious
jongler
to juggle
Questions & Answers about Les clowns que j'ai vus jongler étaient hilarants.
Why is there an -s on vus when it is followed by the infinitive jongler?
With verbs of perception (like voir, entendre, sentir) followed by an infinitive, the past participle agrees with the preceding direct object only if that object is performing the action of the infinitive. Here, the direct object is que (representing Les clowns), which comes before the verb. Since the clowns are the ones doing the juggling, vus takes an -s to agree with the masculine plural clowns.
What would happen to the agreement if the object were receiving the action instead of doing it?
If the preceding direct object receives the action of the infinitive, there is no agreement. For example, if you said "The balls that I saw thrown" (Les balles que j'ai vu lancer), the balls aren't doing the throwing. Because they are the object of the infinitive's action rather than the doer, the past participle vu remains singular and masculine, without an -s or an -e.
The English translation says "saw juggle," but could we translate "saw juggling" using a present participle in French?
No, French doesn't use the present participle (like jonglant) after verbs of perception. To say you saw, heard, or felt someone doing an action, you must use the infinitive. Therefore, both "I saw them juggle" and "I saw them juggling" are expressed with the infinitive jongler.
Why is étaient in the imperfect tense rather than the passé composé (ont été)?
The imperfect (étaient) is used here because it describes an ongoing state or characteristic in the past. You are describing what the clowns were like (hilarious), which is a background description. In contrast, the passé composé (j'ai vus) is used earlier in the sentence for the specific, completed event of you actually seeing them.
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