Marie m’a avoué qu’elle n’aimait pas la sauce de ce restaurant.

Marie admitted to me that she did not like the sauce in this restaurant.

Breakdown of Marie m’a avoué qu’elle n’aimait pas la sauce de ce restaurant.

• Marie: Marie
• elle: she
• aimer: to like
• avoir: to have

Questions & Answers about Marie m’a avoué qu’elle n’aimait pas la sauce de ce restaurant.

What does m’a mean, and why does it come before avoué?

m’a is me + a.

• me / m’ = to me
• a = has (the verb avoir, used here as an auxiliary)

So Marie m’a avoué means Marie admitted to me.

In French, object pronouns such as me, te, lui, nous usually come before the conjugated verb or auxiliary. That is why you get m’a avoué, not a structure like English admitted to me.

Also, me becomes m’ before a vowel for smoother pronunciation.

What tense is a avoué?

a avoué is the passé composé.

It is built with:

• a = auxiliary avoir
• avoué = past participle of avouer

French uses the passé composé for a completed action in the past. Here, the act of admitting is seen as one completed event: Marie admitted it at some point.

Why is it avoué and not avouée, since Marie is female?