Question 1

How could I use davantage de or plus de in this sentence to say we finished restoring "more degraded areas"?

Accepted Answer

You could say Nous venons de finir la restauration de plus de zones dégradées or ... de davantage de zones dégradées. Remember that davantage de is slightly more formal, which fits perfectly with professional or environmental vocabulary like restauration and zone dégradée.

Question 2

I know venir de means "to have just" done something. How would this sentence change if I wanted to say we had just finished it?

Accepted Answer

You would change the present tense verb venons to the imperfect tense (l'imparfait): Nous venions de finir la restauration.... This is a highly useful structure for setting the scene in a story (for example, "We had just finished... when the storm hit.").

Question 3

I usually see restauration used for food and catering. Is it commonly used for repairing things too?

Accepted Answer

Yes! While you will often see it in contexts like la restauration rapide (fast food), la restauration is also the standard term for the physical restoration of art, historic buildings, or natural environments. The related verb is restaurer (to restore).

Question 4

Why does dégradée have an extra -e at the end?

Accepted Answer

Dégradée is the past participle of the verb dégrader, but here it acts as an adjective describing la zone. Because zone is a feminine noun, the adjective must agree with it by taking an extra -e.

Nous venons de finir la restauration de la zone dégradée.

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