Question 1

Why does the sentence use la veille instead of hier?

Accepted Answer

When converting direct speech into reported speech in the past, time markers have to shift. If her original words were that she lied "yesterday" (hier), that word changes to la veille (the day before) to align with the past-tense perspective of the main verb (a avoué).

Question 2

Why is the second verb in the plus-que-parfait (avait menti) rather than the passé composé (a menti)?

Accepted Answer

The plus-que-parfait (pluperfect) tense is used to describe an action that took place before another past action. Because the confession happened in the past (a avoué), the lying that occurred even earlier must be expressed with avait menti (had lied).

Question 3

Why doesn't avouer que (to confess that) trigger the subjunctive here?

Accepted Answer

In the affirmative, verbs of declaration and certainty like avouer (to confess/admit) are followed by the indicative mood. They only trigger the subjunctive when used in the negative (e.g., Elle n'a pas avoué que...) or in inversion, because those forms introduce doubt or uncertainty.

Question 4

Since the subject is elle, shouldn't the past participle be mentie?

Accepted Answer

No, because mentir is conjugated with the auxiliary avoir, not être. In compound tenses using avoir, the past participle only changes to agree with a direct object that comes before the verb. Since there is no preceding direct object here, menti stays in its default masculine singular form.

Elle a avoué qu'elle avait menti la veille.

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