Today we’ll look at the advanced French expression à force de, which means by dint of, through doing and by doing.
À force de
by dint of, through doing
Expression explanation
The grammatical structure for this expression is: À force de + infinitive, meaning “through”, “by doing something” or “through doing something”. French definitions are en persévérant à (by persevering to), par beaucoup de (by a lot of) and grace à, par des efforts répétés (thanks to, by repeated efforts).
Example sentences
All of today’s sentences are in the passé composé, a commonly used French past tense.
À force de crier, il a perdu sa voix.
Through screaming, he lost his voice.
À force de manger trop de sucre, il a grossi.
He gained weight by eating too much sugar.
À force d’étudier tous les jours, elle a appris le français en un an.
She learned French in one year by studying every day.
Related lessons
Reference
French expressions | Lessons by David Issokson
