Breakdown of Le survivant a raconté l'attaque et a précisé qu'il avait pu l'éviter.
il
he
et
and
avoir
to have
pouvoir
to be able to / can
la
her, it (feminine direct object pronoun)
que
that (introducing a clause)
raconter
to tell / to recount
éviter
to avoid
le survivant
the survivor (m)
l'attaque
the attack (f)
préciser
to specify
Questions & Answers about Le survivant a raconté l'attaque et a précisé qu'il avait pu l'éviter.
Why is avait pu in the plus-que-parfait tense here instead of the passé composé?
This sentence uses reported speech introduced by a past tense verb (a précisé). If the survivor originally said J'ai pu l'éviter (passé composé), backshifting rules require it to shift further into the past to the plus-que-parfait (avait pu) when reported. Remember that if he had originally used the plus-que-parfait, it would simply remain unchanged!
Why is the pronoun l' placed before éviter rather than before the conjugated verb?
Because pouvoir acts as a modal verb followed by an infinitive (éviter). When an object pronoun belongs to an infinitive, it must be placed directly before that infinitive. Therefore, we say avait pu l'éviter, not l'avait pu éviter.
Does the l' in l'éviter refer to the survivor or the attack?
Could we omit the qu' after précisé like we often drop 'that' in English?
No, in French, the conjunction que (contracted to qu' here before il) is strictly mandatory when introducing a subordinate clause. You cannot say a précisé il avait pu, even though 'specified he had been able' is perfectly normal in English.
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