Learn French: Il a payé à tort pour son voisin. - He wrongly paid for his neighbour.

Il a payé à tort pour son voisin.

He wrongly paid for his neighbour.

Breakdown of Il a payé à tort pour son voisin.

Questions & Answers about Il a payé à tort pour son voisin.

Since our current lesson is about the Conditionnel Passé, how would we change this sentence to a reproach: 'He shouldn't have paid for his neighbour'?

To express a past reproach, we use the conditional past of devoir (to have to) followed by the infinitive. 'He shouldn't have paid' becomes Il n'aurait pas dû payer. The full reproach is therefore Il n'aurait pas dû payer pour son voisin.

What does à tort literally mean, and where else might I have seen this word?

À tort means 'wrongly', 'unjustly', or 'by mistake'. It comes from the noun le tort (a fault or a wrong). You likely already know it from the very common expression avoir tort (to be wrong), which is the exact opposite of avoir raison (to be right).

Could we use an indirect object pronoun and say Il lui a payé à tort instead of using pour?

No, because that completely changes the meaning! Payer pour quelqu'un means to pay on someone's behalf or to cover their share of a bill. If you said Il lui a payé, it would mean he gave the money directly to the neighbour as a payment.

Is the final t in tort pronounced?

No, the final t in tort is silent. It is naturally silent here before the consonant in pour, and it generally does not make a liaison even if the following word happens to begin with a vowel.