Breakdown of Il a décrit l'attaque et a mentionné qu'il pleuvait.
et
and
avoir
to have
il
it (impersonal subject)
que
that (introducing a clause)
pleuvoir
to rain
décrire
to describe
l'attaque
the attack (f)
mentionner
to mention
Questions & Answers about Il a décrit l'attaque et a mentionné qu'il pleuvait.
Since this sentence uses past reported speech, what were his original words before being reported?
His original words could have been either in the present or the imparfait. If he originally said it is raining (il pleut), the present tense backshifts to the imparfait (il pleuvait) because the reporting verb (a mentionné) is in the past. If his original words were already it was raining (il pleuvait), the imparfait simply remains unchanged when reported in the past.
Why are a décrit and a mentionné in the passé composé while pleuvait is in the imparfait?
Why is there no il before a mentionné?
Just like in English, when two verbs share the exact same subject and are connected by et, you do not need to repeat the subject pronoun. Saying et il a mentionné is also grammatically correct, but dropping the second pronoun sounds very natural and avoids repetition.
The past participle décrit ends in a silent t. Does this apply to similar verbs?
Yes, all verbs ending in -crire follow this exact same pattern for their past participle. You will see this in verbs like écrire which becomes écrit and inscrire which becomes inscrit.
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