Breakdown of Je n’ai pas fait exprès de te réveiller.
Questions & Answers about Je n’ai pas fait exprès de te réveiller.
What does faire exprès mean here?
Why is it Je n’ai pas fait?
Why is there de before te réveiller?
After faire exprès, French commonly uses de + infinitive to say what the intentional action was.
So:
- faire exprès de + infinitive
Examples:
Here, de te réveiller specifies the action: to wake you up.
If the action is already obvious, French can also simply say:
- Je n’ai pas fait exprès.
Why is it réveiller and not réveillé?
Because after de, the verb is in the infinitive:
So the sentence structure is not using a second conjugated verb.
It is:
- I did not do [it] on purpose to wake you
That is why French uses the infinitive réveiller, not the past participle réveillé.
Why does te come before réveiller?
Because object pronouns in French go before the infinitive they belong to.
Here, te is the object of réveiller:
So French says:
- de te réveiller
not:
- de réveiller te
Is te reflexive here?
What tense is this sentence in?
The main verb is in the passé composé, which is a very common French past tense.
- j’ai fait = I did
- je n’ai pas fait = I didn’t do
The infinitive réveiller does not have its own tense here; it is just naming the action.
So the whole sentence is talking about a past situation: you woke someone up, but not intentionally.
Why doesn’t fait change form here?
Fait is the past participle of faire, and here it stays fait.
In this sentence, there is no preceding direct object that would make it agree, so it remains unchanged.
Also, exprès never agrees either. It always stays exprès.
So:
- Je n’ai pas fait exprès
- Elle n’a pas fait exprès
- Ils n’ont pas fait exprès
All keep fait exprès the same.
Does exprès agree with gender or number?
Could you also say Je ne t’ai pas réveillé exprès?
Yes. That is also a very natural sentence.
It means essentially the same thing:
I didn’t wake you up on purpose.
The difference is mostly one of structure:
Je n’ai pas fait exprès de te réveiller.
= I didn’t do it on purpose, namely wake you.Je ne t’ai pas réveillé exprès.
= I didn’t wake you up on purpose.
The second version is often very direct and common in conversation.
Is this a natural sentence in everyday French?
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