Word
Elle a terminé la réparation elle-même au lieu d'appeler le plombier.
Meaning
She finished the repair herself instead of calling the plumber.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Elle a terminé la réparation elle-même au lieu d'appeler le plombier.
elle
she
avoir
to have
appeler
to call (general)
au lieu de
instead of
Questions & Answers about Elle a terminé la réparation elle-même au lieu d'appeler le plombier.
Why is it elle-même here instead of just elle?
Does même change its spelling when used as an emphatic suffix like this?
Why is it appeler (to call) when the English translation says "calling"?
In French, when a verb directly follows any preposition other than en, it must be in the infinitive form. Since it follows de (part of au lieu de), we use the infinitive appeler.
Could I use fini instead of terminé for "finished"?
Yes, Elle a fini would also work perfectly here. Terminer is a very common synonym that means the exact same thing, though it can sometimes sound just a tiny bit more formal, focusing on the very end of a task.