Breakdown of Il ne savait pas comment survivre à une avalanche périlleuse.
une
a / an (feminine)
il
he
ne
not (used before the verb)
pas
not (used after the verb)
à
at / to / in (general locations) / about (what one thinks about / reacts to)
comment
how
savoir
to know (a fact), to know how to
survivre
to survive
périlleux
perilous
l'avalanche
the avalanche (f)
Questions & Answers about Il ne savait pas comment survivre à une avalanche périlleuse.
Why do we use savoir comment here instead of just savoir + infinitive?
Normally, to express "knowing how" to do a skill, you use savoir immediately followed by an infinitive (like Il sait nager for "He knows how to swim"). However, you add comment when you want to emphasize knowing a specific method or procedure. He doesn't just lack a learned skill; he doesn't know the exact steps to survive this situation.
Why is there an à between survivre and une avalanche?
Unlike in English where you "survive something" directly, the French verb survivre requires the preposition à when introducing the event, disaster, or illness you live through. You are essentially surviving to the avalanche.
Why is savait in the imperfect tense rather than the passé composé (a su)?
The imperfect tense is used to describe ongoing states of being or continuous mental states in the past. His lack of knowledge was an ongoing condition. If you used the passé composé (Il n'a pas su), it would change the meaning to a sudden realization or a specific failure to figure it out at a distinct moment.
Does périlleuse follow the standard adjective placement rules here?
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