Question 1

Why do we use de before anticiper? Could we use à instead?

Accepted Answer

We use de because this is an impersonal expression starting with Il est + adjective. When stating a general fact with an impersonal Il est..., it is always followed by de + infinitive. If you used C'est to refer back to a specific idea mentioned previously, you would use à (e.g., C'est crucial à anticiper - That is crucial to anticipate).

Question 2

Why is it ce qui and not ce que in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

You use ce qui when 'what' acts as the subject of the following verb. Here, 'what' is doing the action of threatening (menace). If 'what' were the object receiving the action (e.g., 'what the king threatens'), you would use ce que (ce que le roi menace).

Question 3

Does the verb menacer require a preposition to mean 'to threaten someone'?

Accepted Answer

No, menacer is a direct transitive verb, meaning it takes a direct object without a preposition. That is why it is directly followed by le roi. However, if you want to specify what the threat is, you would use de + noun or infinitive (e.g., menacer le roi de mort - to threaten the king with death).

Question 4

Since crucial expresses a strong necessity, shouldn't this sentence use the subjunctive?

Accepted Answer

It would trigger the subjunctive if we used the conjunction que followed by a new subject (for example: Il est crucial que nous anticipions... - It is crucial that we anticipate...). Because there is no specific subject here, we use the preposition de followed by the infinitive anticiper instead.

Il est crucial d'anticiper ce qui menace le roi.

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