Breakdown of Fais semblant de danser pour qu'on la distraie avec cette diversion.
on
one / we (informal)
avec
with
ce
this (before a noun)
danser
to dance
la
her, it (feminine direct object pronoun)
pour que
so that
la diversion
the diversion
distraire
to distract
faire semblant de
to pretend to
Questions & Answers about Fais semblant de danser pour qu'on la distraie avec cette diversion.
Why use "Fais semblant de" for "Pretend to" instead of the verb "prétendre"?
Prétendre is a classic false friend! In French, it generally means "to claim" or "to assert" (like claiming a fact is true). To express "to pretend" in the sense of faking or acting out a situation, you must use the expression faire semblant de followed by an infinitive.
The current lesson is about "pour peu que", but this sentence uses "pour que". Do both work the same way grammatically?
Yes, they both trigger the subjunctive! Both pour que (so that) and pour peu que (if only / provided that) require the subjunctive mood because they express an outcome that is potential or desired, not yet a reality. Here, pour que is used to show the purpose of the dancing, whereas pour peu que would be used if we were setting a minimal condition.
What verb is "distraie" and how do we form this tricky subjunctive?
The infinitive is distraire (to distract), which is an irregular verb. Like most verbs, its subjunctive stem comes from the present indicative "ils/elles" form (ils distraient). You drop the "-ent" to get the stem distrai-, and then add the regular "on" subjunctive ending -e, resulting in qu'on distraie.
Why is the pronoun "la" placed exactly where it is?
La is a direct object pronoun meaning "her." The rule for object pronoun placement does not change in the subjunctive: pronouns still go immediately before the conjugated verb they belong to, even inside a subordinate clause. So, pour qu'on la distraie directly translates structurally to "so that we her distract."
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