No repetition of 'à' ?

Tom A.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

No repetition of 'à' ?

I notice in the sentence 'l'animal perdu s'est mis à dévaster les plantations, manger les fruits, et même boire le bandji' that the à is not repeated before the later infinitives. I thought repeating this preposition was usual - or is that only when it comes before nouns?

Asked 2 years ago
CécileNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hi Tom,

 It is simply a stylistic tool to avoid repetition which can sound ungainly, particularly in written form.

Just as you might not repeat an auxiliary verb ( and a personal pronoun) in a sentence if the same auxiliary applies to the following verbs -

Elle a joué du piano et chanté = She played the piano and sang 

Ils avaient été surprises mais rassurées par sa réaction = They had been surprised but ( they had been) reassured by his/her reaction

It is the same case here that à is superfluous.

Hope this helps!

Tom A.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Thank you Cécile :)

No repetition of 'à' ?

I notice in the sentence 'l'animal perdu s'est mis à dévaster les plantations, manger les fruits, et même boire le bandji' that the à is not repeated before the later infinitives. I thought repeating this preposition was usual - or is that only when it comes before nouns?

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