Position of tout in "Elle a tout compris"

Question

"She understood everything." has "tout" after "a" as the correct answer in the test. But "she understood something." is "Elle a compris quelque chose." ... at least I think that is correct. Why?

Ron Thomas · Accepted Answer

Bonjour Thomas,
Tout, tous, toute, toutes = Everything, all (of them), the whole (indefinite pronouns) In the phrase Elle a tout compris, tout is an indefinite pronoun and pronouns typically go before a verb, in this case between the auxiliary of avoir and the participe passé; however, in the phrase Elle a compris quelque chose, quelque is an adjective and chose is a feminine noun and would follow the verb.
J'espère que ma réponse vous aidera.
Ron

Thomas Miller · Answer

Merci beaucoup!

Aurélie Drouard · Answer

Excellent explication Ron :)

One tiny thing = "J'espère que ma réponse vous aidera."  (it's your answer that helps)  ;)

Ron Thomas · Answer

Merci Aurélie, c'était un typo.

Chris Wirt · Answer

Would it be correct to translate:

J'ai tout compris = I understood completely.
J'ai compris tout = I understood everything.

-- Chris.

Aurélie Drouard · Answer

Bonjour Claus !

You wouldn't say "J'ai compris tout", only "J'ai tout compris" to say = I understood everything.

If you want to say "I understood completely" you will use another adverb:
"J'ai complètement / tout à fait compris."

See our lesson on position of adverbs with compound tenses:
https://french.kwiziq.com/revision/grammar/where-to-place-adverbs-with-verbs-in-compound-tenses

À bientôt !

Hao Yi · Answer

About Ron's answer "tout is an indefinite pronoun and pronouns typically go before a verb, in this case between the auxiliary of avoir and the participe passé"--you also have object pronouns that go before avoir and participe passé as in "Je l'ai invité à la maison."

So is it case that "tout" as an indefinite pronouns behaves differently from object pronouns? Are there any other such pronouns like "tout"?