Breakdown of Quand bien même le méchant s'excuserait, nous ne lui ferions pas confiance.
nous
we / us (object pronoun)
lui
him / to him / to her (indirect object)
ne
not (used before the verb)
pas
not (used after the verb)
le
him, it (masculine direct object pronoun)
s'excuser
to apologize
faire confiance à
to trust (someone)
quand bien même
even if (formal, followed by conditional)
le méchant
the villain
Questions & Answers about Quand bien même le méchant s'excuserait, nous ne lui ferions pas confiance.
Why is s'excuserait in the conditional tense here when the English translation uses the past tense "apologized"?
The phrase quand bien même (even if) is always followed by the conditional tense in French to express a hypothesis. In English, we use the past tense for this kind of hypothetical situation ("Even if he apologized"), but French strictly uses the conditional for both halves of the sentence when using this specific structure.
Could I use même si instead of quand bien même in this sentence?
Yes, but the grammar would have to change. The phrase même si is followed by the imperfect tense for a hypothesis, so it would be Même si le méchant s'excusait. The phrase quand bien même is a bit more formal and specifically triggers the conditional (s'excuserait).
Why do we use the indirect object pronoun lui instead of the direct object pronoun le for "him"?
The French expression for "to trust someone" is faire confiance à quelqu'un. Because it uses the preposition à, you must use the indirect object pronoun lui (to him) rather than the direct object pronoun le.
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