Breakdown of Grâce à sa persévérance, il a fini par sortir du dédale.
il
he
avoir
to have
son
his/her/its (son, sa, ses)
du
of the / from the (masculine singular, with plural des)
sortir
to go out
grâce à
thanks to
finir par
to end up
le dédale
the maze
la persévérance
the perseverance
Questions & Answers about Grâce à sa persévérance, il a fini par sortir du dédale.
How exactly does the phrase il a fini par sortir work here?
The construction finir par followed by an infinitive (here, sortir) is the standard way to express "to end up doing [something]" or "to finally do [something]". In this sentence, it is conjugated in the passé composé (il a fini) to show the ultimate result of his past actions.
Could I use à cause de instead of grâce à to say "because of his perseverance"?
Why is it sortir du dédale rather than just sortir le dédale?
When the verb sortir means "to exit" or "to go out of" a physical place, it must be followed by the preposition de. In this sentence, de combines with the masculine definite article le to form the mandatory contraction du.
Since the subject is il (he), why do we use the feminine possessive sa persévérance?
A common trap! French possessive adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun being owned, not the owner. Because persévérance is a feminine noun, it takes the feminine possessive sa, even though it belongs to a man.
Learn Grâce à sa persévérance, il a fini par sortir du dédale and more in French
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free