Breakdown of Nous aidons notre apprenti de peur de gâcher le cristal incandescent.
nous
we / us (object pronoun)
notre
our (singular and plural forms: notre, nos)
aider
to help
le
him, it (masculine direct object pronoun)
gâcher
to ruin
l'apprenti
the apprentice (m)
de peur de
for fear of
incandescent
incandescent
le cristal
the crystal
Questions & Answers about Nous aidons notre apprenti de peur de gâcher le cristal incandescent.
Why do we use the infinitive gâcher here instead of a conjugated verb?
Because the subject of both actions is the same (nous). We are the ones helping, and we are the ones who might ruin the crystal. When the subject is the same in both clauses, French uses de peur de + infinitive. If the subjects were different (e.g., for fear that our apprentice ruins it), you would use de peur que + subjunctive.
Could I use de crainte de instead of de peur de in this sentence?
I learned that phrases about fear often take an extra, untranslated ne. Does that apply to de peur de gâcher?
No, the optional ne explétif (a ne without a pas) is sometimes used with the conjunction de peur que, but never with the preposition de peur de + infinitive. If you added it here and said de peur de ne gâcher, it would actually mean 'for fear of not ruining the crystal,' which reverses your intended meaning!
Why does the adjective incandescent come after cristal?
In French, adjectives that describe objective physical qualities like light, temperature, or color (such as being incandescent) almost always come after the noun. This contrasts with short, common adjectives (like beau or grand) which usually precede the noun.
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