Question 1

Why does préparée have an extra -e at the end even though it uses the auxiliary verb avoir?

Accepted Answer

Normally, past participles used with avoir do not agree with the subject. However, if the direct object comes before the verb, the past participle must agree with it. Here, the direct object is qu' (standing for the feminine singular noun la métamorphose). Because it appears before a préparée, we add an -e to make it feminine.

Question 2

Why use qu'il instead of qui il here?

Accepted Answer

We use que (contracted to qu') because it acts as the direct object of the verb—it is the thing being prepared. Qui is used when the relative pronoun is the subject doing the action. As a helpful reminder: que drops its vowel before another vowel (becoming qu'il), but qui never contracts.

Question 3

How is the adverb radicalement formed?

Accepted Answer

Like many French adverbs, it is built from the feminine form of the adjective. The masculine adjective is radical, the feminine is radicale, and adding the suffix -ment (equivalent to '-ly' in English) gives us radicalement.

Question 4

How does the word inattendue translate to 'unexpected'?

Accepted Answer

It comes from the verb attendre, which means 'to expect' as well as 'to wait'. The past participle attendu means 'expected'. Adding the negative prefix in- gives us inattendu (unexpected). It gets an extra -e at the end here because it acts as an adjective agreeing with the feminine noun la métamorphose.

La métamorphose qu'il a préparée est radicalement inattendue.

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