Learn Hardcore French: Après avoir traduit le texte, Marie lit encore sa traduction pour corriger les fautes. - After having translated the text, Marie reads her translation again to correct the mistakes.

In French, after the preposition après followed by a verb, you must use the infinitif passé (past infinitive) to express a completed action:

après avoir traduit le texte = after having translated the text

You cannot say:

✗ après traduire le texte – an infinitive directly after après is wrong in this meaning.
✗ après traduissant le texte – the present participle (traduissant) is not used this way with après.

So the correct structure is:

après + avoir/être + past participle
- après avoir mangé
- après être arrivé
- après avoir traduit le texte

Why is it traduit and not traduite in après avoir traduit le texte?

Traduit here is the past participle of traduire, used with avoir in the infinitive avoir traduit.

Agreement rules:

With avoir, the past participle only agrees with a direct object that comes before it.
In après avoir traduit le texte:
- Verb: traduire
- Auxiliary: avoir
- Direct object: le texte (masculine singular, but comes after traduit)

Since le texte comes after the participle, there is no agreement: the participle keeps its default masculine singular form traduit.

You would only see an -e or -s added if:

a direct object came before the participle and
agreement rules applied (e.g. les phrases qu’elle a traduites).

Could I also say Après que Marie a traduit le texte, Marie lit encore sa traduction…? What is the difference?

Yes, you can say:

Après que Marie a traduit le texte, Marie lit encore sa traduction pour corriger les fautes.

Difference:

Après avoir traduit le texte, Marie…
- Uses the infinitif passé.
- The subject of traduire is understood to be the same as the main subject (Marie).
- This construction is more compact and slightly more formal/written.
Après que Marie a traduit le texte, Marie…
- Uses a full subordinate clause with a conjugated verb.
- Explicitly repeats the subject Marie.
- Also correct and common in both spoken and written French.

One subtle point: with après que, standard grammar requires the indicative, not the subjunctive:

Après que Marie a traduit le texte (not ait traduit in standard usage).

How does encore work here? Does it mean “again” or “still”? Could I say something else instead?

In this sentence, encore means “again / once more”, not “still”.

Marie lit encore sa traduction = Marie reads her translation again (one more time).

Some alternatives:

Marie relit sa traduction…
- relire = to read again / reread
- This is actually more natural than lit encore in many contexts.
Marie lit sa traduction une fois de plus…
- More explicit: “one more time”.

Encore can also mean “still”, but then it usually talks about an ongoing situation:

Marie lit encore = She is still reading (she hasn’t finished yet).

In your sentence, context makes “again” the right interpretation.

Why not use relit instead of lit encore? Are both correct?

Both are correct, but there is a nuance:

Marie lit encore sa traduction
- Literally: “Marie reads her translation again.”
- Emphasizes the idea again with the adverb encore.
Marie relit sa traduction
- relire already includes the idea “to read again”.
- Feels a bit more natural and compact; very common in written French.

So you could easily say:

Après avoir traduit le texte, Marie relit sa traduction pour corriger les fautes.

That version is idiomatic and perhaps even a bit smoother.

In sa traduction, does sa refer to Marie, or could it be someone else’s translation?

By default, sa traduction refers to the subject of the clause, here Marie, so it naturally means “her translation” (Marie’s translation).

French possessive adjectives (son / sa / ses) do not show the possessor’s gender; they agree with the noun possessed:

sa traduction = “her translation” or “his translation” (because traduction is feminine).
son texte = “her text” or “his text” (because texte is masculine).

If you needed to avoid ambiguity, you could specify:

sa propre traduction = her own translation
la traduction de Paul = Paul’s translation

Why is it pour corriger les fautes and not pour corriger des fautes?

Pour corriger les fautes suggests all the (existing or possible) mistakes in her text, in a general or total way:

les fautes here = “the mistakes (in the text she has just translated)”.

If you said pour corriger des fautes, it would sound more like:

“to correct some mistakes” (an indefinite, not-necessarily-all subset).

So:

les fautes = the mistakes (assumed to be the errors in that translation).
des fautes = some mistakes (a vague, indefinite quantity).

In proofreading, les fautes is the natural choice because the goal is usually to correct all the mistakes.

Could I say afin de corriger les fautes instead of pour corriger les fautes? Any difference?

Yes, you can say:

…Marie lit encore sa traduction afin de corriger les fautes.

Both pour and afin de introduce a purpose:

pour corriger les fautes – very common, neutral, works in all registers.
afin de corriger les fautes – a bit more formal or written, slightly more elegant.

Meaning-wise, they are practically the same in this sentence.

What is the difference between fautes and erreurs? Could I say pour corriger les erreurs?

You can say either:

pour corriger les fautes
pour corriger les erreurs

Both are correct and understandable.

Nuance:

faute:
- Very common for language mistakes: spelling, grammar, vocabulary.
- faute d’orthographe, faute de grammaire.
- Also used more broadly for “fault, wrongdoing”.
erreur:
- Slightly more general: a mistake, error, wrong choice, miscalculation.
- Can sound a bit more neutral or technical in some contexts.

In the context of proofreading a translation:

les fautes is probably the most typical phrasing (spelling/grammar errors within a text).
les erreurs is also acceptable, and may suggest misinterpretations or incorrect translations, not just typos.

Why is it Marie lit encore sa traduction with encore in the middle? Could I say Marie lit sa traduction encore?

In French, adverbs like encore usually go right after the conjugated verb:

Marie lit encore sa traduction. ✅

Marie lit sa traduction encore sounds unnatural or wrong in standard French.

General rule:

Subject + conjugated verb + adverb + rest of the sentence
- Marie lit souvent sa traduction.
- Marie lit encore sa traduction.
- Marie lit déjà sa traduction.

There are exceptions and changes in emphasis in spoken language, but lit encore sa traduction is the standard word order here.

Why is lit in the present tense? Could we use a past tense here?

The present tense lit is used either:

As a narrative present (to tell a story in a lively way), or
To describe a habitual action (what Marie usually does after translating).

You could change the tense depending on the context:

Après avoir traduit le texte, Marie a encore lu sa traduction…
- Past event, completed action.
Après avoir traduit le texte, Marie lisait encore sa traduction…
- Imparfait: background / repeated action in the past.
Après avoir traduit le texte, Marie lira encore sa traduction…
- Future: what she will do after.

The original uses the present to describe her behavior in a general or vivid way.