Breakdown of Je vais faire relire mon résumé à Marie avant de l’envoyer.
Questions & Answers about Je vais faire relire mon résumé à Marie avant de l’envoyer.
Why is je vais faire relire used here instead of just je relis or je vais relire?
Je vais + infinitive is the near future in French. It means I’m going to ...
So:
- je relis = I reread / I am rereading
- je vais relire = I’m going to reread
- je vais faire relire = I’m going to have someone reread / proofread
The extra verb faire changes the meaning a lot. It introduces the idea of causing someone else to do the action.
What does faire relire mean exactly?
Faire + infinitive is a very common French structure called the causative. It means to make / have someone do something.
So:
- relire = to reread
- faire relire = to have someone reread
In this sentence, Je vais faire relire mon résumé à Marie means I’m going to have Marie reread my summary.
In natural English, that often becomes I’m going to have Marie proofread my summary.
Why is it à Marie and not par Marie?
With faire + infinitive, the person who performs the action is often introduced with à when that person is an indirect object.
So:
- faire relire quelque chose à quelqu’un = to have someone reread something
Here:
- mon résumé is the thing being reread
- à Marie is the person who will do the rereading
Using par Marie would sound more like a passive idea such as by Marie, which is not the normal structure here.
Why does mon résumé come before à Marie?
Because with faire + infinitive, French often puts the thing being acted on before the person who does the action.
So the pattern is often:
faire + infinitive + thing + person
Here:
- faire relire mon résumé à Marie
That literally looks like:
- have reread my summary to Marie
But the real meaning is:
- have Marie reread my summary
This word order can feel strange to English speakers, but it is normal in French.
Does relire just mean to read again, or can it mean to proofread?
It can mean both, depending on context.
Literally, relire means to reread. But when the thing being reread is a piece of writing like mon résumé, it often naturally means:
- to review
- to proofread
- to check over
So in this sentence, proofread is a very natural translation.
What does résumé mean here? Is it the same as English résumé?
No. In French, un résumé usually means a summary.
That is different from the English word résumé, which means CV or job history document.
So mon résumé here almost certainly means my summary, not my résumé/CV.
If French wanted to say the English-style résumé, it would more commonly use CV.
Why is it avant de l’envoyer and not avant l’envoyer?
After avant, when the subject stays the same and the next verb is in the infinitive, French uses:
avant de + infinitive
So:
- avant de partir = before leaving
- avant de manger = before eating
- avant de l’envoyer = before sending it
You cannot say avant l’envoyer here.
What does l’ stand for in l’envoyer?
L’ is the direct object pronoun le or la, shortened before a vowel.
Here it refers to mon résumé.
So:
- envoyer mon résumé = to send my summary
- l’envoyer = to send it
Because envoyer begins with a vowel sound, le/la becomes l’.
Why is l’ placed before envoyer?
In French, object pronouns usually come before the verb they belong to.
So:
- envoyer le résumé = to send the summary
- l’envoyer = to send it
Even though English says send it, French says the equivalent of it send in word order.
That is normal for French pronouns.
How do we know what l’ refers to?
From context and grammar.
The nearest suitable noun is mon résumé, and it makes sense semantically:
- I’m going to have Marie reread my summary
- before sending it
So l’ clearly refers to mon résumé.
Why is it de l’envoyer with both de and l’ together?
Because they are doing two different jobs:
- de belongs to the expression avant de + infinitive
- l’ is the object pronoun meaning it
So:
- avant de = before
- l’envoyer = sending it
Together:
- avant de l’envoyer = before sending it
Could this sentence be rewritten with a different structure?
Yes. A very close alternative is:
Je vais demander à Marie de relire mon résumé avant de l’envoyer.
That means:
I’m going to ask Marie to reread my summary before sending it.
The original sentence with faire relire is a bit more compact and focuses on having the action done. The version with demander à Marie de... focuses more on asking Marie.
Both are natural, but they are not exactly identical in tone.
Is faire relire a common pattern in French?
Yes, very common. Once you know the pattern, you can use it with many verbs:
- faire réparer la voiture = to have the car repaired
- faire laver les vitres = to have the windows cleaned
- faire traduire un texte = to have a text translated
- faire relire un texte = to have a text reread / proofread
It is one of the most useful French verb structures to learn.
Why is there no second subject before envoyer?
Because envoyer is in the infinitive, and the subject is understood from the main clause.
In this sentence, the understood subject of envoyer is the speaker: je.
So the meaning is:
I’m going to have Marie proofread my summary before I send it.
French does not need to repeat je before envoyer here.
Could avant de l’envoyer mean before Marie sends it instead of before I send it?
Normally, no. The most natural interpretation is before I send it, because the understood subject usually connects back to the main subject, je.
If you wanted to make Marie the sender, French would normally make that clearer with a different structure.
So the default reading is:
I’m going to have Marie proofread my summary before sending it myself.
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