Marie espère obtenir une bourse, parce que son diplôme lui ouvrira plus de portes.

Marie

Breakdown of Marie espère obtenir une bourse, parce que son diplôme lui ouvrira plus de portes.

• parce que: because
• ouvrir: to open
• la porte: the door

Questions & Answers about Marie espère obtenir une bourse, parce que son diplôme lui ouvrira plus de portes.

Why is it espère obtenir and not espère à obtenir or espère de obtenir?

Because espérer is followed directly by the infinitive when the same person does both actions.

• Marie espère obtenir une bourse = Marie hopes to obtain a scholarship.

French does not use a preposition here. So:

• espérer + infinitive ✅
• espérer à/de + infinitive ❌

A useful comparison:

• Marie espère obtenir une bourse = Marie hopes to obtain a scholarship.
• Marie espère qu’elle obtiendra une bourse = Marie hopes that she will obtain a scholarship.

Both are correct, but the first one is more compact.

What exactly does une bourse mean here?

Here, une bourse means a scholarship or a grant for studies.

It can have other meanings in different contexts, but in an education sentence like this, a French speaker will normally understand it as financial aid for study.

So in this sentence, obtenir une bourse is a very natural expression for getting/winning a scholarship.

Why use obtenir here instead of avoir or recevoir?