The sentence for translation was: "help clearing the table after eating." I wrote "après avoir mangé" for "after eating" and this was marked wrong. They wanted "après manger". Can anyone help me understand why "après avoir mangé" is wrong?
After eating - après avoir mangé - why is this wrong?
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After eating - après avoir mangé - why is this wrong?
Mary, I suspect this is a matter of
1. the specificity of the translation,
2. the usual usage in French in a general directive such as this.
Après avoir mangé - after having eaten. Après manger - after eating.
The normal way of saying either "after having done" or "after doing" is "après avoir fait" as explained here:
Après avoir fait = After doing in French (auxiliary avoir)
But in the specific case of eating, there is a fixed expression "après manger" which can be used instead, and is, perhaps, more idiomatic. I don't think "après avoir mangé" is wrong, however.
There is a similar expression "après boire", but, in general, you can't use a present infinitive after après.
https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/apr%C3%A8s-manger-boire-apr%C3%A8s-infinitif.1009468/
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