Prepositions of Concession, Cause & Duration: malgré, à cause de, pendant
Prepositions of Concession, Cause & Duration: malgré, à cause de, pendant
Rounding out the connector set from this level, these prepositions all take a plain noun rather than a full clause — no subjonctif question ever arises with them, unlike their clause-based cousins bien que and pour que.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
Cause with a value judgment: à cause de vs. grâce à
Il a raté le train à cause de la pluie. (He missed the train because of the rain — negative cause) / Il a réussi grâce à son professeur. (He succeeded thanks to his teacher — positive cause)
He missed the train because of the rain. / He succeeded thanks to his teacher.
French splits 'because of' by whether the outcome is good or bad: à cause de leans negative or neutral, while grâce à is reserved for a positive result, literally 'thanks to'. English already draws roughly this same line between neutral/negative 'because of' and positive 'thanks to' — so the underlying concept isn't new. The trap is that English 'because of' is used more loosely than French allows, including for positive outcomes ('because of your help, I passed') where French really wants grâce à — using à cause de for a happy result sounds off to a French ear, much as it would sound slightly odd in English to credit someone with 'because of' instead of 'thanks to'.
faute de: for lack of
Faute de temps, je n'ai pas fini. (For lack of time, I didn't finish)
For lack of time, I didn't finish.
faute de + noun/infinitive names an absence as the cause of a problem, closely matching English 'for lack of' or 'for want of'. It rounds out the concession/cause preposition set alongside malgré (despite, Lesson 44), pendant (during/for), à cause de, and grâce à — all prepositions taking a plain noun, none of them triggering the subjonctif the way their clause-based cousins (bien que, pour que) do.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| malgré | mahl-GRAY | despite |
| à cause de | ah kohz duh | because of |
| grâce à | grahs ah | thanks to |
| pendant | pahn-DAHN | during / for |
| faute de | foht duh | for lack of |
| à cause du mauvais temps | ah kohz doo moh-veh tahn | because of the bad weather |
| grâce à ton aide | grahs ah tohn ehd | thanks to your help |