Word
Cette grande haie la gênait depuis longtemps.
Meaning
This tall hedge had been bothering her for a long time.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Cette grande haie la gênait depuis longtemps.
grand
big / tall
ce
this (before a noun)
longtemps
for a long time
la
her, it (feminine direct object pronoun)
Questions & Answers about Cette grande haie la gênait depuis longtemps.
Why does the French sentence use the imperfect tense (gênait) when the English translation uses "had been bothering"?
In French, when an action started in the past and was still ongoing at the past moment you are describing, you use the imperfect (l'imparfait) with depuis. English shifts to the past perfect continuous ("had been bothering"), but French keeps it simple: you use the ongoing past tense to show the hedge was still a nuisance at that moment.
Why is la used here instead of lui for "her"?
The verb gêner (to bother, to annoy, or to physically be in the way of) takes a direct object in French (gêner quelqu'un). Because of this, you must use the direct object pronoun la (her) rather than the indirect object pronoun lui (to her).
Why is grande translated as "tall" instead of "big"?
While grand generally translates to "big" or "large", when it is applied to people, trees, or plants like a haie (hedge), it specifically refers to vertical height. If you wanted to emphasize that the hedge was very thick or wide, you would use a word like épaisse or large.
Is there anything tricky about the pronunciation or grammar of the word haie?