Pronominal verbs:

Could someone help me with this sentence:-

Cette construction s'est faite avec le consentement de la majorite ( sorry unable to put accent )

I am assuming this is a pronominal verb, but why?

Thanks,

Sheila

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Permalink Reply by Neil Coffey on March 27, 2010 at 7:27pm

Hi Robert --

Yes you're right, "s'est faite" is a pronominal verb. Remember, one of the uses of pronominal verbs is a so-called "middle construction", similar to a passive. So "s'est faite" effectively means "a été faite".

In general, you can use a pronominal verb instead of a passive provided that you're not describing a "punctual" event (i.e. you're not describing something taking place as a one-off event, envisaging its start and end points and being "completed", but rather you're focussing on the outcome, for example).

Note that another restriction with the pronominal construction is you can't introduce the agent with par, whereas you can with a true passive (Cette construction a été faite par X).

Hope that helps!

N

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Permalink Reply by Robert HYde on March 27, 2010 at 7:58pm

Merci mille fois,

This is so helpful, thanks and good luck in your studies,

from Sheila

(confusing I know but I am using my husband's computer at the moment and obviously his name comes up on the sites)

De nouveau mille fois