Breakdown of Notre apprenti travaille délicatement le cristal de crainte de le fissurer.
travailler
to work
notre
our (singular and plural forms: notre, nos)
le
him, it (masculine direct object pronoun)
l'apprenti
the apprentice (m)
délicatement
delicately
de crainte de
for fear of
le cristal
the crystal
fissurer
to crack (form a fissure)
Questions & Answers about Notre apprenti travaille délicatement le cristal de crainte de le fissurer.
Why do we use de crainte de followed by an infinitive here, instead of de crainte que?
We use de crainte de + infinitive because the subject is the same for both actions. It is our apprentice (notre apprenti) who is working the crystal, and the same apprentice who might crack it. If the subjects were different (for example, 'He works delicately for fear that the machine might crack it'), you would have to use de crainte que followed by the subjunctive.
Where exactly does the pronoun le go when using a phrase like de crainte de?
The direct object pronoun le goes immediately before the infinitive it belongs to (fissurer). A common mistake is trying to put it before the preposition, but object pronouns always stick closely to the verb they directly modify.
I usually see travailler used to mean 'to do a job'. How is it being used with le cristal here?
Why does the adverb délicatement come right after the verb instead of before it, like in the English translation 'delicately works'?
In French, adverbs almost never go between the subject and the conjugated verb. Adverbs of manner (like délicatement) typically go directly after the conjugated verb they modify. So, travaille délicatement is the required word order here.
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