Elle a perdu une dent pour être tombée dans la rue.
She lost a tooth for having fallen on the street.
Breakdown of Elle a perdu une dent pour être tombée dans la rue.
être
to be
une
a / an (feminine)
elle
she
dans
in, inside
pour
for
avoir
to have
la rue
the street
la dent
the tooth
perdre
to lose
tomber
to fall
Questions & Answers about Elle a perdu une dent pour être tombée dans la rue.
How does the past infinitive work in pour être tombée?
To express the cause of something that already happened, we use pour followed by the past infinitive. The past infinitive is formed with the infinitive of the helping verb (avoir or être) plus the past participle of the main verb (tombée). Here, it translates to for having fallen.
Why is it pour être tombée and not pour avoir tombée?
The main verb is tomber (to fall), which is a verb of movement or state change that always takes être as its helping verb in compound tenses. Even when forming the past infinitive, it must keep être rather than switching to avoir.
Why does tombée have an extra e at the end?
Because the helping verb is être, the past participle must agree with the person performing the action. Since the subject Elle is feminine, we add an e to tombé. This agreement rule applies to the past infinitive just as it does in the passé composé.
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