Cette expérience me redonne confiance.

This experience gives me confidence again.

Breakdown of Cette expérience me redonne confiance.

• cette: this
• l'expérience: the experience
• me: me
• la confiance: the confidence
• redonner: to give again

Questions & Answers about Cette expérience me redonne confiance.

Why is it cette expérience and not ce expérience?

In French, adjectives (including demonstratives like ce / cet / cette) must agree in gender and number with the noun.

• expérience is a feminine singular noun.
• The feminine singular form of ce is cette.

So:

• cette expérience = this experience (correct)
• ce expérience = incorrect, because ce is masculine singular.

What exactly does redonne mean, and how is it different from donne?

The verb is redonner, built from:

• donner = to give
• prefix re- = again, back

So:

• donner confiance = to give (someone) confidence
• redonner confiance = to give (someone) confidence again, to restore someone’s confidence

In English, me redonne confiance is closer to:

• “restores my confidence”
• “gives me back my confidence” rather than just “gives me confidence” for the first time.

What is the function of me in me redonne? Is it reflexive?

Here me is not reflexive; it’s an indirect object pronoun meaning “to me”.

• Underlying structure: Cette expérience redonne confiance à moi.
• In proper French, that becomes: Cette expérience me redonne confiance.

So:

• Subject: Cette expérience
• Verb: redonne
• Indirect object (person receiving something abstract): me = to me
• Direct object (what is given back): confiance = confidence

Why does me come before the verb instead of after, like in English?

In French, object pronouns usually go before the conjugated verb in affirmative sentences.

Pattern:

• [Subject] + [object pronoun] + [verb] + [rest of the sentence]

So:

• Cette expérience me redonne confiance.
  • subject: Cette expérience
  • object pronoun: me
  • verb: redonne
  • complement: confiance

You cannot say:

• ✗ Cette expérience redonne me confiance. (wrong word order)

Why is it redonne and not something like redonnent?

The verb form must agree with the subject.

• Subject: Cette expérience → 3rd person singular (elle)
• Present tense of redonner (3rd person singular): il/elle redonne

So we use:

• Cette expérience redonne… (singular)

If the subject were plural:

• Ces expériences me redonnent confiance.
  • redonnent = 3rd person plural form

Why is there no article before confiance? Why not la confiance?

Abstract nouns in French can appear without any article when they refer to something in a general, non-countable way—similar to how English sometimes drops “the”.

Compare:

• Cette expérience me redonne confiance.
  • literally: “gives me back confidence” in general
• Cette expérience me redonne la confiance que j’avais perdue.
  • “gives me back the confidence that I had lost” (specific, defined confidence)

In the original sentence, confiance is treated like a mass / abstract noun, so no article is the most natural choice.

Could I say me redonne de la confiance instead? Is that wrong?

You can say me redonne de la confiance, and it’s grammatically correct, but the nuance changes slightly.

• me redonne confiance
  – very idiomatic; means “restores my confidence” as a general state.
• me redonne de la confiance
  – literally “gives me some confidence back,” with a mild sense of quantity (“some amount of confidence”).

In most contexts, French speakers prefer me redonne confiance to talk about confidence being restored.

Could I also say Cette expérience me rend confiant(e)? Is it equivalent?

Yes, but there is a nuance:

• Cette expérience me redonne confiance.
  – Focus on my confidence itself being restored (an inner state, abstract noun).
• Cette expérience me rend confiant / confiante.
  – Focus on how I become (adjective): “This experience makes me confident.”

Both express a similar idea, and both are correct.
Note that confiant is masculine, confiante is feminine, and it agrees with the person who is speaking.

How would I put this sentence in the past tense?

Use passé composé with avoir:

• Cette expérience m’a redonné confiance.
  = “This experience restored my confidence” / “gave me back my confidence.”

Structure:

• subject: Cette expérience
• auxiliary: a
• object pronoun before auxiliary: m’ (elision of me before a vowel sound: m’a)
• past participle: redonné
• complement: confiance

Note: redonné does not agree with me here, because me is an indirect object; so we write redonné, not redonnée.

Where would ne…pas go if I want to say “This experience does not restore my confidence”?

Object pronouns still stay before the verb, and ne…pas goes around the conjugated verb (and pronoun).

• Cette expérience ne me redonne pas confiance.
  • ne
    • me redonne
      • pas

Pattern:

• [Subject] + ne + [object pronoun] + [verb] + pas + [rest]

Does expérience here mean “experience” like a life event, or “experiment” like in science?

expérience in French can mean both, depending on context:

1. Life event / lived experience

   • That’s the meaning in your sentence:
     • Cette expérience me redonne confiance.
       → This particular event / situation restores my confidence.

2. Scientific experiment

   • Example:
     • L’expérience a échoué. = The experiment failed.

In your sentence, because it “restores my confidence,” it clearly refers to a personal or professional experience, not a lab experiment.