Breakdown of Elle a mal aux gencives pour s'être brossé les dents trop vite.
être
to be
elle
she
pour
for
aux
to the, at the (plural) / with (flavoured with, in dish names) / with (having as a feature)
vite
fast, quickly
se brosser
to brush
la dent
the tooth
avoir mal
to be in pain, to hurt
trop
too, too much
la gencive
the gum
Questions & Answers about Elle a mal aux gencives pour s'être brossé les dents trop vite.
Why do we use s'être brossé here instead of the present infinitive se brosser?
The structure pour plus a past infinitive is used to explain the cause of something by pointing to a completed action. She has sore gums now because the brushing already happened. If you used pour se brosser, it would mean 'in order to brush', expressing a goal rather than a past cause.
Why is the auxiliary être used after pour instead of avoir?
The verb is se brosser, which is reflexive. In French, all reflexive verbs use être as their auxiliary in compound tenses. Even in this past infinitive form, it must be s'être followed by the past participle.
Since the subject is feminine and the verb uses être, why isn't there an extra 'e' at the end of brossé?
This is a classic B2 trap! With reflexive verbs, the past participle only agrees if the direct object comes before the verb. Here, the direct object is les dents, which comes right after the verb. Because it comes after, brossé remains unchanged.
Why does the sentence say les dents instead of ses dents?
When referring to body parts, French generally uses definite articles like les rather than possessive adjectives. The reflexive pronoun s' already makes it perfectly clear whose teeth are being brushed.
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