Prepositions
- « Back to Q&A Forum
- « Previous questionNext question »
JoakimKwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Prepositions
"Marie est retournée le voir le lendemain" - how come there's no preposition ("pour", say) following retournée here, which the lesson says should always follow retourner when conjugated with être?
This question relates to:French lesson "Retourner can be used with avoir or être in compound tenses depending on its meaning in French (Le Passé Composé)"
Asked 6 years ago
"Pour" is optional in this case, as far as I understand it. For the sake of translation, "le voir" is already equivalent to "to see it", but you could add "pour". "Il vient nous sauver" = "il vient pour nous sauver". There may be a slight difference in nuance, but it's essentially the same.
AlmutKwiziq Q&A regular contributor
I guess the preposition (one of location! so "pour" wouldn't count anyway) is a good indicator that it is the intransitive version of the verb but the intransitive version of the verb does not necessarily demand a preposition. However the lack of a direct object shows that "retourner" is used intransitively here and therefore has to be conjugated with "être".
Joakim asked:View original
Prepositions
"Marie est retournée le voir le lendemain" - how come there's no preposition ("pour", say) following retournée here, which the lesson says should always follow retourner when conjugated with être?
Don't have an account yet? Join today
Ask a question
Find your French level for FREE
Test your French to the CEFR standard
Find your French level