Breakdown of Nous venons de distiller la lavande, si bien que l'odeur est parfaite.
être
to be
parfait
perfect
nous
we / us (object pronoun)
venir
to come
de
to (introducing an infinitive after a verb)
l'odeur
the smell (f)
distiller
to distill
la lavande
the lavender
si bien que
so much so that
Questions & Answers about Nous venons de distiller la lavande, si bien que l'odeur est parfaite.
Why does si bien que take the indicative (est) here instead of the subjunctive?
The connector si bien que expresses a consequence or result that is a concrete fact, so it requires the indicative mood. You only use the subjunctive for results that are merely intentions or goals, which would require different connectors like pour que.
Doesn't si bien que literally mean 'so well that'? Can I translate it that way?
It does literally translate to 'so well that', and sometimes it means exactly that. However, as a set grammatical phrase for consequence, it more broadly means 'with the result that' or simply 'so'. In this sentence, it just shows the logical, factual outcome of distilling the lavender.
Could we use de sorte que instead of si bien que in this sentence?
Yes, you could say de sorte que l'odeur est parfaite. When expressing a factual consequence, both take the indicative and mean essentially the same thing. Si bien que just places a tiny bit more emphasis on the natural, unavoidable result of the action.
Why is the present tense verb venons used to talk about an action we already finished?
The phrase venir de followed by an infinitive (distiller) is the French recent past structure. Even though venir is conjugated in the present tense, the construction tells us the action happened just a moment ago, translating to 'have just done' something.
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