dicteé " A childhood passion

tony w.C1Kwiziq community member

dicteé " A childhood passion

in order to make us do our homeworkcorrect answer is "enfin de nous faire faire nos devoirs. Why is the infinitive  used in both cases ("make us" "do our homework"?

Asked 3 years ago
CécileNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hi Tony,

There are two verbs in that sentence -

To make (us)afin de nous faire

Do our homework faire nos devoirs

Rule : When two verbs follow each other, the second one takes the infinitive

Hope this helps!

Jim J.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Hi Tony,

I find this a bit difficult to try to explain.

There is a standard expression "afin de faire (qch)"  --> in order to do something.

But in a passive sense -- faire faire quelque chose --> to have something done for oneself

So the mother finds herself "having TO MAKE the children TO DO their homework" and they (the children) are reporting on this situation.

"afin de nous faire (TO MAKE) (standard expression above) faire (TO DO) nos devoirs"

This is my best effort  --  let's see what others may offer.

Hope it helps.

Jim

tony w.C1Kwiziq community member

Thanks Jim...I understand the meaning...I don't understand why it's in the infinitive and not conjugated "she made us_" do our homework"

Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Because the English is “in order to make us ”, not  ‘made us’. See answer under the duplicated posting. In the lesson see, for example ‘we are going to have our living room redone “ -nous (allons faire) (refaire notre salon). Same grammar principle. 

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

She made us do our homework -- Elle nous a fait faire nos devoirs.
...in order to make us do our homework -- afin de nous faire faire nos devoirs.

You'll notice that the second example is only a piece of a sentence which lacks the conjugated verb. 

dicteé " A childhood passion

in order to make us do our homeworkcorrect answer is "enfin de nous faire faire nos devoirs. Why is the infinitive  used in both cases ("make us" "do our homework"?

Sign in to submit your answer

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
Getting that for you now...