Breakdown of Il a habité à Madagascar, et il s'en souvient très bien.
il
he
très
very
et
and
avoir
to have
bien
well
à
at / to / in (general locations) / about (what one thinks about / reacts to)
habiter
to live
en
in, to
se souvenir
to remember
Madagascar
Madagascar
Questions & Answers about Il a habité à Madagascar, et il s'en souvient très bien.
Why do we use à before Madagascar instead of en, since it is a country?
Even though Madagascar is a country, it is also an island that doesn't use a definite article (it is just Madagascar, not la Madagascar). In French, singular islands without an article take the preposition à to mean in or to. Other examples include à Cuba or à Malte.
Why is there an en in il s'en souvient?
Why does en go between s' and souvient?
In French, object pronouns like en must be placed immediately before the conjugated verb they belong to. When a verb is reflexive like se souvenir, the reflexive pronoun (se or s') comes first, followed by en, and then the verb.
Could we use the imparfait (il habitait) here instead of the passé composé (il a habité)?
Yes, but it would change the nuance. Using the passé composé (il a habité) treats his time living there as a completed, factual event on a timeline. Using the imparfait (il habitait) would sound more like you are setting the background scene for another story, such as While he was living in Madagascar...
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