Learn French: Le forgeron s'en souvient, parce qu'il a tout perdu faute de minerai. - The blacksmith remembers it, because he lost everything for lack of ore.

Le forgeron s'en souvient, parce qu'il a tout perdu faute de minerai.

The blacksmith remembers it, because he lost everything for lack of ore.

Breakdown of Le forgeron s'en souvient, parce qu'il a tout perdu faute de minerai.

Questions & Answers about Le forgeron s'en souvient, parce qu'il a tout perdu faute de minerai.

Why is it faute de minerai and not faute du minerai?

The expression faute de (for lack of) is usually followed directly by a noun without an article (such as le, la, or du). You just use de plus the bare noun, which is similar to how expressions of quantity like beaucoup de work.

What does the en do in s'en souvient?

The verb for "to remember" is se souvenir de. Because it requires the preposition de, you must use the pronoun en to say "remember it" or "remember about it". Here, en replaces de plus whatever specific thing the blacksmith is remembering.

Why is tout placed in the middle of a tout perdu?

In compound tenses like the passé composé, the pronoun tout (everything) is placed between the conjugated auxiliary verb (a) and the past participle (perdu). If you put it at the end (il a perdu tout), it would sound grammatically incorrect to French ears.

How does faute de differ from à cause de in this sentence?