a fait
The English phrase "did" can be translated into French as a fait.
a fait is the past tense of the verb "to do" and is used to describe the completion of an action or a task.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase a fait is literally "has done", constructed from the auxiliary verb avoir (has) and the past participle fait (done).
Which one should you use?
While a fait describes a completed action, the imperfect form faisait is used to describe continuous or habitual actions in the past, such as "was doing" or "used to do".
Did you know?
- When describing weather, French uses fait instead of 'is'. To say 'it was hot', one says il a fait chaud.
- French uses faire for things English describes as 'taking' or 'having', such as faire une promenade for 'taking a walk'.
- In French, the phrase ça fait is often used to express a duration of time, such as 'it has been' or 'for'.
Examples in context
- On a fait ça.We did that.Tatoeba #5350934 by Aiji, translation #2241070 by CK
- Il a fait ça.He did this thing.Tatoeba #11964317 by Amastan, translation #8319186 by Amastan
- Qui l'a fait ?Who did it?Tatoeba #579927 by sacredceltic, translation #276223 by CK
- J'ai fait mes devoirs hier soir.I did my homework last night.
- Elle a fait du sport ce matin.She did some exercise this morning.
- J'ai effectué toutes les vérifications nécessaires.I did all the necessary checks.
- Il a effectué une présentation très détaillée.He did a very detailed presentation.
- Tu as fait du shopping ce matin ?Did you do some shopping this morning?
- On a fait une sortie cinéma en groupe.We did a group movie outing.
- J'ai eu une conversation intéressante avec lui.I had an interesting conversation with him.
- Tu as eu des nouvelles de Paul ?Did you hear from Paul?
- J'ai fait mes devoirs hier soir, té !I did my homework last night, you know!
- Ils ont fait du sport ce matin, té !They did some exercise this morning, you know!
- 569 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Lucas and Léa are talking about a project at work.
- LucasElle a fait le rapport ?Did she do the report?
- LéaOui, elle l'a fait hier.Yes, she did it yesterday.
- LucasC'est super, elle a fait du bon travail.That's great, she did good work.
- LéaOui, elle a fait attention aux détails.Yes, she paid attention to the details.
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
