Breakdown of Je fais attention de peur de couper les mèches et les pointes.
je
I
et
and
le
him, it (masculine direct object pronoun)
faire attention
to pay attention, to be careful
couper
to cut
de peur de
for fear of
la mèche
the lock (of hair)
la pointe
the tip (pointed end)
Questions & Answers about Je fais attention de peur de couper les mèches et les pointes.
Why isn't there a second de before les pointes since the lesson is about repeating prepositions?
The rule about obligatorily repeating à, de, and en applies when you have a list of items directly governed by that preposition. Here, the second de in de peur de governs the verb couper. The nouns les mèches and les pointes are just direct objects of couper, so they only need their definite articles (les). If you had a second verb in a list, you would repeat the preposition, such as de peur de couper les mèches et de gâcher les pointes.
Why do we use the infinitive couper here instead of the subjunctive?
Because the subject of both actions is the same person ('I am careful' and 'I cut'). When the subject doesn't change, you use the prepositional phrase de peur de followed by an infinitive. If the subjects were different, you would use de peur que followed by the subjunctive.
Doesn't the expression faire attention usually take the preposition à?
Yes, when you are paying attention to a specific thing, you use faire attention à. In this sentence, however, faire attention is used completely on its own to mean 'I am careful'. The word de that immediately follows it is not connected to faire attention; it belongs entirely to the fixed phrase de peur de, which means 'for fear of'.
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