Question 1

Since this lesson is about quitte à, how could we use it to express the same idea?

Accepted Answer

You could rewrite the sentence as: L'acheteur déterminé veut profiter de cet événement, quitte à attendre longtemps (The determined buyer wants to take advantage of this event, even if it means waiting a long time). Quitte à is followed directly by the infinitive attendre.

Question 2

Why is it profiter de instead of just profiter?

Accepted Answer

In French, the verb profiter requires the preposition de when it means 'to take advantage of' or 'to make the most of' something. Without de, the grammatical connection to cet événement would be broken, much like saying 'wants to benefit this event' in English.

Question 3

Why is it cet événement rather than ce événement?

Accepted Answer

Événement is a masculine singular noun, so the default demonstrative adjective ('this' or 'that') would be ce. However, because événement starts with a vowel, ce changes to cet to avoid a clash of vowel sounds and make pronunciation smoother.

Question 4

Could we place the adjective before the noun, saying le déterminé acheteur?

Accepted Answer

No, déterminé must go after the noun. It is a past participle acting as an adjective, and those always follow the noun in French. Only a specific group of short, common adjectives (like bon, grand, or nouveau) typically go before the noun.

L'attente est longue, mais l'acheteur déterminé veut profiter de cet événement.

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