Word
La femme a décrit comment les soldats souffraient de la faim.
Meaning
The woman described how the soldiers were suffering from hunger.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of La femme a décrit comment les soldats souffraient de la faim.
la femme
the woman
avoir
to have
comment
how
la faim
the hunger
Questions & Answers about La femme a décrit comment les soldats souffraient de la faim.
Why is souffraient in the imperfect tense here instead of shifting further back in time?
This sentence uses reported speech introduced by a past tense verb (a décrit). Normally, this causes the second verb to shift back in time, which is called backshifting. However, if the original observation was already in the imperfect tense to describe an ongoing state ('they were suffering'), it remains in the imperfect. The imperfect tense never changes when backshifting.
Why does this sentence use comment instead of que?
While que (that) is the most common connecting word for reported speech, comment (how) is used here to show she didn't just state the fact that they suffered, but rather described the specific manner, extent, or details of their suffering. Question words like comment, où, and pourquoi can act as connectors in indirect speech.
Why is it de la faim and not just de faim?
The verb souffrir requires the preposition de to mean 'to suffer from'. Unlike fixed expressions such as avoir faim (to be hungry) or mourir de faim (to starve), when you talk about suffering from a condition like hunger or thirst, French usually keeps the definite article, resulting in de la faim.
Why do we use the passé composé for a décrit but the imparfait for souffraient?