Breakdown of Au bout d'une semaine, elle n'a plus la patience de supporter ce collègue.
une
a / an (feminine)
elle
she
avoir
to have
ce
this (before a noun)
le collègue
the colleague
la semaine
the week
la patience
the patience
ne... plus
(not) anymore / no longer
de
to (introducing an infinitive after a verb)
au bout de
after, at the end of
supporter
to stand
Questions & Answers about Au bout d'une semaine, elle n'a plus la patience de supporter ce collègue.
Why do we use au bout d' instead of à la fin de here?
Does supporter mean "to support"?
Supporter is a classic false friend! While it can mean to physically support a weight, in everyday French it usually means "to tolerate", "to put up with", or "to stand" someone or something. If you want to say "to support" a person emotionally or financially, use the verb soutenir.
Since the sentence is negative (elle n'a plus), shouldn't la patience change to de patience?
Not in this case! The rule that changes articles to de in negative sentences only applies to indefinite (un, une, des) and partitive (du, de la, de l') articles. Here, we are using the definite article la, which stays exactly the same in the negative. She lacks the specific patience needed for this task.
Why do we need de before supporter?
The noun patience is followed by the preposition de when linking it to an infinitive verb. The fixed structure is avoir la patience de faire quelque chose (to have the patience to do something).
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