Breakdown of Traverser la rue sans regarder peut être dangereux.
Questions & Answers about Traverser la rue sans regarder peut être dangereux.
The grammatical subject is the whole infinitive phrase traverser la rue sans regarder.
In French, an infinitive can function as a noun-like subject, especially to talk about actions in general:
- Traverser la rue sans regarder → Crossing the street without looking (as a general action)
- Peut être dangereux → can be dangerous
So traverser is not conjugated because it’s being used as an infinitive acting as the subject of peut être.
It’s correct in French. Starting a sentence with an infinitive is very common when you talk about actions in general:
- Fumer tue. – Smoking kills.
- Conduire vite est imprudent. – Driving fast is unwise.
Here, Traverser la rue sans regarder is the subject of the verb peut.
You could also say:
- Le fait de traverser la rue sans regarder peut être dangereux.
(The fact of crossing the street without looking can be dangerous.)
But that’s more formal and heavier. The simple infinitive is more natural in everyday French.
In French, singular countable nouns almost always need a determiner (like le, la, un, une, ce, ma, etc.), even when English doesn’t use one.
So:
- Traverser la rue – literally to cross the street
(French needs la, English doesn’t.)
Saying Traverser rue would be ungrammatical.
You could change the noun, though:
- Traverser la route sans regarder… – crossing the road
- Traverser une rue sans regarder… – crossing a street (not a specific one)
But you still need some article: la or une, etc.
Sans is a preposition meaning without. When it’s followed by a verb, that verb is in the infinitive:
- sans regarder – without looking
- sans parler – without speaking
- sans hésiter – without hesitating
There’s no explicit subject (no je, tu, etc.) because the understood subject of regarder is the same as the person performing the main action (traverser).
If you wanted a different subject, you’d usually use sans que + subjunctive:
- Il traverse la rue sans que je le voie. – He crosses the street without me seeing him.
(Literally: without that I see him → without my seeing him)
No: after sans, you do not add de before an infinitive. It’s always:
- sans regarder, sans manger, sans parler, etc.
Some other prepositions do take de before an infinitive, for example:
- avant de partir – before leaving
- afin de comprendre – in order to understand
But sans works like pour:
- pour regarder – to / in order to look
- sans regarder – without looking
Never sans de + infinitif.
They are two different things:
Peut être (two words, no hyphen)
- peut = can (3rd person singular of pouvoir)
- être = to be
- Together: peut être = can be
Example: Traverser la rue sans regarder peut être dangereux.
Peut-être (with a hyphen)
- An adverb meaning maybe / perhaps
Example: Peut-être que tu as raison. – Maybe you’re right.
- An adverb meaning maybe / perhaps
In your sentence, you need peut être (can be), not peut-être (maybe).
They sound the same but they’re different words:
peut (from pouvoir) – can / is able to
- Il peut venir. – He can come.
peu – little / not much
- Il a peu de temps. – He has little time.
In peut être dangereux, it’s the verb peut (from pouvoir), not peu.
The adjective dangereux agrees with the thing it describes. Here, it describes the whole action traverser la rue sans regarder, which is an infinitive phrase used as a subject.
When an adjective refers to an idea, action, or clause like that, French uses the masculine singular by default:
- Courir la nuit peut être dangereux. – Running at night can be dangerous.
- Ne rien dire est parfois prudent. – Saying nothing is sometimes wise.
If you turned the action into a feminine noun, the adjective would change:
- Cette habitude est dangereuse. – This habit is dangerous.
- Cette action est dangereuse. – This action is dangerous.
Peut être dangereux = can be dangerous / may be dangerous
- This suggests possibility; it’s not always dangerous, but it can be.
Est dangereux = is dangerous
- This presents it as a general fact, more categorical.
So:
Traverser la rue sans regarder peut être dangereux.
→ Crossing the street without looking can be dangerous.Traverser la rue sans regarder est dangereux.
→ Crossing the street without looking is dangerous.
Both are grammatically correct; the choice is about nuance (possible vs stated as fact).
Some changes are fine, some are awkward:
Traverser sans regarder la rue…
- This sounds odd, because sans regarder naturally attaches to traverser la rue as a whole.
- It may be interpreted as cross without looking at the street, which is not quite what you mean.
- The standard, clear order is Traverser la rue sans regarder.
Sans regarder, traverser la rue peut être dangereux.
- This is possible and understandable.
- It emphasizes Sans regarder at the beginning, a bit more literary or rhetorical.
The most neutral, natural version is the original:
Traverser la rue sans regarder peut être dangereux.
Several natural alternatives:
C’est dangereux de traverser la rue sans regarder.
(Very common, slightly more conversational.)Le fait de traverser la rue sans regarder est dangereux.
(More formal, heavier.)Traverser la rue sans regarder, c’est dangereux.
(Colloquial, with a pause after the comma, often spoken.)
All of these are correct; they differ mainly in style and emphasis, not in meaning.