'Ainsi' followed by inversion

TomC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

'Ainsi' followed by inversion

I was looking at the Lawless French article on inversion and saw that 'ainsi' may be followed by inverted word order. Does that mean that, as an alternative to 'Ainsi ma mère m'a raconté que', you could write 'Ainsi m'a raconté ma mère que...' ?

Asked 11 months ago
LauraKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Bonjour Tom, the lesson you're referring to is about standard inversion (with pronouns). https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/inversion/

When you're talking about inversion with nouns, such as ma mère, the rules are different. You can use inversion for stylistic effect, such as in poetry: https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/inversion-with-nouns/

Your example sounds a bit odd to me as it's a formal construction but you're talking about your mother. And it's not poetry, so this effect doesn't really work here.

TomC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Thank you Laura, much appreciated

'Ainsi' followed by inversion

I was looking at the Lawless French article on inversion and saw that 'ainsi' may be followed by inverted word order. Does that mean that, as an alternative to 'Ainsi ma mère m'a raconté que', you could write 'Ainsi m'a raconté ma mère que...' ?

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