Paul a fait un cauchemar cette nuit.

Paul had a nightmare last night.

Breakdown of Paul a fait un cauchemar cette nuit.

• Paul: Paul
• faire un cauchemar: to have a nightmare
• cette nuit: last night

Questions & Answers about Paul a fait un cauchemar cette nuit.

Why does French use a fait (from faire) here when in English we say “had a nightmare”, not “made a nightmare”?

In French, the common idiomatic expression is faire un cauchemar literally “to make/do a nightmare”, but it means “to have a nightmare”.

• Paul fait un cauchemar. → Paul is having a nightmare.
• Paul a fait un cauchemar. → Paul had a nightmare.

English and French don’t always choose the same verb for set expressions. Where English says have a dream / have a nightmare / have a good time, French often uses faire:

• faire un rêve – to have a dream
• faire un cauchemar – to have a nightmare
• faire une promenade – to take a walk

What tense is a fait, and how is it formed?

A fait is in the passé composé (a common past tense).

Formation:

• auxiliary verb avoir in the present: a (3rd person singular)
• past participle of faire: fait

So:

• Paul a fait = Paul has done / Paul did / Paul has made / Paul made.

In this sentence it translates naturally as “Paul had a nightmare last night.”

Why is there no agreement on fait? Why not faite or faits?

With passé composé built with avoir, the past participle usually does not agree with the subject. It stays in its basic form:

• Paul a fait un cauchemar. (masculine subject → still fait)
• Marie a fait un cauchemar. (feminine subject → still fait)

Agreement with avoir only happens when there is a direct object before the verb, which is not the case here:

• Le cauchemar comes after the verb, so no agreement:
  • Paul a fait un cauchemar. (not faite)

So fait is correct for all subjects here.

Could we say Paul a eu un cauchemar instead of Paul a fait un cauchemar?

It’s grammatically possible, but not idiomatic. Native speakers overwhelmingly say:

• faire un cauchemar → standard, natural
• avoir un cauchemar → occasionally heard, but sounds off / less natural

If you want to sound natural, always learn and use the expression faire un cauchemar.

What is the difference between cette nuit and la nuit dernière?

Both can translate as “last night”, but there are nuances:

• cette nuit

  • Literally: “this night”
  • Usually means the night that has just finished (i.e. the night between yesterday and today).
  • Common in everyday speech:
    
    • J’ai mal dormi cette nuit. – I slept badly last night.

• la nuit dernière

  • Literally: “the last night”
  • Also means last night, often slightly more neutral/formal in tone.
  • Often interchangeable with cette nuit when you’re talking about the night that just passed.

In many everyday contexts, Paul a fait un cauchemar cette nuit and Paul a fait un cauchemar la nuit dernière would mean the same thing.

Why is it un cauchemar and not une cauchemar?

Because cauchemar is a masculine noun in French.

• un cauchemar – a nightmare
• le cauchemar – the nightmare
• des cauchemars – nightmares

There’s no logic you can reliably infer from the meaning; grammatical gender is mostly arbitrary, so it’s best to learn the noun together with its article:

• Learn un cauchemar, not just cauchemar.

How do you pronounce cauchemar and a fait?

Approximate pronunciations:

• Paul → roughly “pohl” (single smooth vowel, not like English “Paul”)

• a fait → roughly “ah feh”

  • a like the a in “father”
  • fait sounds like “fé” (similar to “fey” but shorter)

• cauchemar → roughly “kosh-mar”

  • cau → like “ko” in “coat” but with a slightly softer o
  • che → like “sh” in “she”
  • mar → like “mar” in “market” but with the French r

The t in fait is silent.

Can I move cette nuit to the beginning of the sentence?

Yes. French is quite flexible with time expressions. All of these are correct:

• Paul a fait un cauchemar cette nuit.
• Cette nuit, Paul a fait un cauchemar.
• Paul, cette nuit, a fait un cauchemar. (more marked, often spoken for emphasis)

Putting cette nuit at the start often adds emphasis to when it happened:

• Cette nuit, Paul a fait un cauchemar. → You’re highlighting “this night (as opposed to other nights)”.

Could we use imparfait instead and say Paul faisait un cauchemar cette nuit? What would that mean?

Yes, but the meaning changes.

• Paul a fait un cauchemar cette nuit. (passé composé)

  • A completed event: one nightmare that happened during the night.
  • Focus on the fact that it occurred.

• Paul faisait un cauchemar cette nuit. (imparfait)

  • Describes an ongoing/background action in the past.
  • Often needs more context:
    • Paul faisait un cauchemar cette nuit quand je l’ai réveillé.
      Paul was having a nightmare last night when I woke him up.

So for a simple statement “Paul had a nightmare last night”, passé composé (a fait) is the usual choice.

Is Paul a fait un cauchemar cette nuit a complete sentence? Could French ever drop Paul like Spanish does?

Yes, Paul a fait un cauchemar cette nuit is a complete sentence.

In French, you cannot normally drop the subject pronoun or the noun subject:

• You must say Paul a fait… or Il a fait…
• You cannot say just a fait un cauchemar cette nuit (ungrammatical in standard French).

Unlike Spanish or Italian, French always requires an explicit subject (noun or pronoun) in normal sentences.