Breakdown of Après avoir habité en Bretagne, elle veut vivre en Sicile.
elle
she
avoir
to have
habiter
to live
en
in, to
vouloir
to want
vivre
to live, to experience
après
after
la Bretagne
the Brittany
la Sicile
the Sicily
Questions & Answers about Après avoir habité en Bretagne, elle veut vivre en Sicile.
Why do we use en before Bretagne?
Bretagne (Brittany) is a French region. In French, regions and provinces that end in -e are feminine. Just like with feminine countries, we use the preposition en to express "in" or "to" a feminine region.
Why is it en Sicile? I thought islands used à instead of en.
Why does the sentence use après avoir habité instead of après habitant?
In English, we often say "After living", using an -ing verb. However, in French, the preposition après must always be followed by the past infinitive. This is formed with the infinitive of the helping verb (avoir or être) plus the past participle (habité). You cannot use the present participle (habitant) after après.
What is the difference between habiter and vivre in this sentence?
They are largely interchangeable when talking about residing somewhere, but using both avoids repetition. If we look at the subtle difference, habiter focuses purely on physically residing or having an address, while vivre carries a broader sense of experiencing life and spending time in that place.
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