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In Rocket French advanced lesson 2.2 Prendre de l'essence, the use of the past participle in the phase 'vous l'avez faite' involves the spelling and pronunciation 'faite' with the 't' pronounced - in lieu of 'fait' - the reason is not given in the lesson other than to say it is a grammar rule that ' we will be spared' !!!

Can someone please explain why the 'T' is pronounced in this instance and why this approach appears not to apply to other 'past participles'

Salut,

good question, I'm sure other people have wondered that as well.
The reason the "t" is pronounced is because it is followed by an e (feminine past participle).

I hope that helps.

Claire

Claire
Thanks for your response. But why is it feminine in this instance? Is it just because 'pression' is feminine? Are there any other past participles that are both male and female? If not why is 'Faire' special?
cheers and thanks,
David

Salut David,

It becomes feminin because of the " l' " which refers to "essence" which is feminin, hence the e at the end of "faite".
Nouns have different genders which influences how the whole sentence is put together.
I hope that makes a bit more sense. Don't worry if it takes some time to get the hang of it. Some grammatical features are a bit more tricky than others, but once you develop a feel for the language you won't even have to think about the gender anymore. It will come naturally.


All the best
Claire