Breakdown of Il sirote un café histoire de se réveiller.
un
a / an (masculine)
il
he
le café
the coffee
se réveiller
to wake up
histoire de
just to / so as to
siroter
to sip
Questions & Answers about Il sirote un café histoire de se réveiller.
Literally histoire de means "story of", so how does it mean "just to" in this sentence?
While histoire usually means "story" or "history", the fixed expression histoire de followed by an infinitive is a very common informal way to say "just to" or "so as to". It expresses a casual purpose or intention without making a big deal out of the action.
Could I just use pour instead of histoire de here?
Is the verb siroter common in everyday French?
Yes, siroter is very common! It means "to sip" or "to drink slowly". It carries a laid-back, leisurely feeling that matches perfectly with the casual conversational vibe of the phrase histoire de.
Why do we still need the se in se réveiller if the verb is in the infinitive?
Because the verb follows the preposition de, it must stay in its infinitive form. However, since he is waking himself up, the reflexive pronoun se must remain and agree with the subject Il. If the subject were Je, it would change to histoire de me réveiller.
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