Breakdown of Elle a caché son agacement, mais au bout de deux heures, elle a commencé à râler.
elle
she
mais
but
avoir
to have
cacher
to hide
commencer
to start
son
his/her/its (son, sa, ses)
deux
two
l'heure
the hour / o'clock (f)
à
to (introducing an infinitive after a verb)
au bout de
after, at the end of
l'agacement
the annoyance (m)
râler
to grumble
Questions & Answers about Elle a caché son agacement, mais au bout de deux heures, elle a commencé à râler.
Why do we use au bout de here instead of à la fin de to mean 'at the end of'?
Au bout de is used specifically for the end of a duration or a physical length (like 'at the end of two hours' or 'at the end of the street'). À la fin de is used for the end of an event, period, or text (like à la fin du film or à la fin de l'année). Since deux heures is a measure of time passing, au bout de is the correct choice.
Is râler a standard word for 'to complain'?
Why is there an à after commencé?
When the verb commencer is followed by another verb in the infinitive (to start doing something), it requires the preposition à as a link. While you might occasionally see commencer de in older literature, commencer à is the standard rule for modern spoken and written French.
Why is it son agacement if the subject elle is female?
In French, possessive adjectives agree with the noun that is owned, not the person who owns it. Because agacement is a masculine noun, it must take the masculine possessive son, even though it translates to 'her annoyance' here.
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