Question 1

Why does the sentence use the adjective dur instead of an adverb like durement?

Accepted Answer

In certain fixed expressions, French uses an adjective to do the job of an adverb. Travailler dur (to work hard) is one of these standard phrases. Because dur is acting as an adverb describing how he worked (travaillait), it is invariable, meaning it never changes to match the gender or number of the subject.

Question 2

Why do we have two different past tenses (travaillait and a saturé) in the same sentence?

Accepted Answer

This sentence perfectly shows how French past tenses interact. The imperfect tense (travaillait) sets the background scene for an ongoing action (was working). The passé composé (a saturé) is the specific, completed event (clipped) that suddenly interrupted that background action.

Question 3

I usually translate matériel as 'material', so why is it 'equipment' here?

Accepted Answer

While le matériel can refer to physical materials, in everyday and technical contexts it very frequently means 'equipment', 'hardware', or 'gear' (like tools, computers, or audio setups). Given the technical verb saturer, 'equipment' or 'hardware' is the best English equivalent.

Question 4

What does saturé mean in this technical context?

Accepted Answer

The verb saturer generally means 'to saturate' or 'to overload'. In the context of electronics, computing, or audio (le matériel), it means the system reached its maximum capacity, or an audio signal peaked and 'clipped' (became distorted).

Il travaillait dur quand le matériel a saturé.

Breakdown of Il travaillait dur quand le matériel a saturé.

Questions & Answers about Il travaillait dur quand le matériel a saturé.

Learn Il travaillait dur quand le matériel a saturé and more in French