Position of tout in "Elle a tout compris"
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Thomas M.Kwiziq community member
Position of tout in "Elle a tout compris"
"She understood everything." has "tout" after "a" as the correct answer in the test. But "she understood something." is "Elle a compris quelque chose." ... at least I think that is correct. Why?
This question relates to:French lesson "Tout/tous/toute/toutes = Everything/all (of them)/whole/completely in French"
Asked 7 years ago
Bonjour Thomas,
Tout, tous, toute, toutes = Everything, all (of them), the whole (indefinite pronouns) In the phrase Elle a tout compris, tout is an indefinite pronoun and pronouns typically go before a verb, in this case between the auxiliary of avoir and the participe passé; however, in the phrase Elle a compris quelque chose, quelque is an adjective and chose is a feminine noun and would follow the verb.
J'espère que ma réponse vous aidera.
Ron
Tout, tous, toute, toutes = Everything, all (of them), the whole (indefinite pronouns) In the phrase Elle a tout compris, tout is an indefinite pronoun and pronouns typically go before a verb, in this case between the auxiliary of avoir and the participe passé; however, in the phrase Elle a compris quelque chose, quelque is an adjective and chose is a feminine noun and would follow the verb.
J'espère que ma réponse vous aidera.
Ron
AurélieKwiziq team member
Excellent explication Ron :)
One tiny thing = "J'espère que ma réponse vous aidera." (it's your answer that helps) ;)
Chris W. Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
Would it be correct to translate:
J'ai tout compris = I understood completely.
J'ai compris tout = I understood everything.
-- Chris.
AurélieKwiziq team member
Bonjour Claus !
You wouldn't say "J'ai compris tout", only "J'ai tout compris" to say = I understood everything.
If you want to say "I understood completely" you will use another adverb:
"J'ai complètement / tout à fait compris."
See our lesson on position of adverbs with compound tenses:
Position of French Adverbs - with compound tenses
À bientôt !
Hao Y.Kwiziq community member
About Ron's answer "tout is an indefinite pronoun and pronouns typically go before a verb, in this case between the auxiliary of avoir and the participe passé"--you also have object pronouns that go before avoir and participe passé as in "Je l'ai invité à la maison."
So is it case that "tout" as an indefinite pronouns behaves differently from object pronouns? Are there any other such pronouns like "tout"?
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