USES OF THE SUBJUNCTIVE

Clauses that express emotions, wishes or desires

Elle est ravie que tu sois venue – She is delighted that you came (this construction uses the past subjunctive which is discussed below)

Richard est triste que sa sœur parte – Richard is sad that his sister is leaving

J’aimerais bien que l’on se revoie – I would very much like to see you again (lit. “for us to see each other again”)

The subjunctive is used with certain expressions beginning with ‘que’ and expressing proclamation or benediction. They translate to ‘may…’ or ‘let…’ in English:

Que la bataille commence ! – Let the battle begin!

Que Dieu te bénisse ! – May God bless you!

Qu’ils mangent de la brioche! – Let them eat cake! (quote commonly attributed to Marie Antoinette but in actuality is thought to have been coined much earlier by philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau)

Impersonal usage

Some impersonal constructions of il est or c’est + adjective use the subjunctive (‘impersonal’ means il or c’ does not refer to a person or thing):

Il est possible que – it is possible that

Il est important que – it is important that

Il est essentiel que – it is imperative that

C’est dommage que – it is a pity that

The giving of advice, caution, certain declarations, etc.

Ne sois pas si bête – Don’t be so silly

Soyez un peu modeste, chérie – Be a little modest, my love

Ainsi soit-il – Amen (lit. “so be it” or “let it be like this/that”)

This usage is similar in intent to the imperative, in that they both directly address someone.

EXCEPTIONS EXCEPTIONS EXCEPTIONS!

Not every expression preceded by ‘que’ uses the subjunctive. The reason for this is sometimes obvious, as in the case of savoir que (to know that) and être sur que (to be sure that), which express certainty and therefore take the indicative.

There are a handful of expressions that fall into this category. They include: alors que (‘while’, usually used to express a contrast between two events), tandis que (‘while’, usually used to signal two temporally simultaneous activities), espérer que (to hope that), trouver que (to find that), après que (after), pendant que (like ‘tandis que’), si bien que (so that, with the result that), tant que (as long as), supposer que (to assume/suppose that), être evident que (to be obvious that), savoir que (to know that), être sûr(e) que (to be sure that)

J’espère que tout va bien – I hope everything’s well

Tant que vous êtes là, vous pouvez m’aider à ranger les courses – While you’re here, you can help me put the shopping away

Arnaud lisait le mode d’emploi tandis que son père essayait de réparer le lave-vaisselle – Arnold read the instructions while his father tried to fix the dishwasher

AMBIGUOUS EXPRESSIONS

The expressions penser que, croire que (believe, think that) and sembler que (to seem or appear that) can use either the subjunctive or the indicative depending on the amount of certainty the speaker wants to convey and whether they are employed in the affirmative or the negative:

Je pense qu’il est là – I think he’s here (I am 80% sure he’s around)

Je ne pense pas qu’il soit là – I don’t think he’s here (I am less than 50% sure he’s around)

Il semble que Sophie prend le bus – It seems Sophie is taking the bus (i.e. we’re pretty sure, we saw her at the bus stop evidently waiting for the bus, etc.)

Il semble que Sophie prenne le bus – She declined to ride in the car with us, so we assume she is taking the bus but we’re not sure

PAST SUBJUNCTIVE

When an expression using the subjunctive is placed in the past tense, the past subjunctive is used. It is formed by combining the present subjunctive of avoir or être and the past participle of the main verb. The choice of avoir or être is dependent on which one the main verb normally uses in the passé composé, and the normal agreement rules apply (if you need a refresher on agreement rules, click here). Failure to use the correct auxiliary verb could result in a nasty case of subjunctivitis!

Elle est ravie qu’ils soient venus à la fête hier – She is happy that they came to the party yesterday. (‘Venir’, the main verb, uses être in the passé compose, hence ‘soient’ which is in the subjunctive. This is followed by the past participle form ‘venus’, with the ‘s’ at the end to agree with ‘ils’.)

There is no future subjunctive; anything taking place in the past takes the past subjunctive, otherwise the present subjunctive is used. There is however an imperfect subjunctive and a pluperfect subjunctive, but they are really only used in writing and would seem outdated in modern French.

AVOIDING THE SUBJUNCTIVE

Use the indicative

The simplest way of avoiding the subjunctive is to use the indicative. This can be achieved by replacing ‘que’ with ‘de’ which is then followed by the infinitive.

Il est important que tu sois là –> Il est important d’être là

Notice how using the indicative instead of the subjunctive here sacrifices the specificity of the statement; it now sounds like an awkward thing to say to someone you are speaking directly to.

Il faut que tu fasses tes devoirs –> Il faut faire tes devoirs

This time, the indicative does not sound quite as stilted as in the first example because of tes which directly addresses the listener. Also note that de is not needed here as the infinitive is preceded by a conjugated verb.

Inutile que je t’apprenne quelque chose – It’s useless for me to teach you anything –> Inutile de t’apprendre quelque chose

Here, t’ goes between de and the infinitive because it is an indirect object pronoun.

Reword the sentence

Another way of avoiding the subjunctive is to reword the sentence by using a different syntax that doesn’t require the subjunctive, while retaining its original meaning.

Il faut que les étudiants aient du temps pour se détendre –> Les étudiants ont besoin du temps pour se détendre (or even ‘Il faut aux étudiants du temps pour se détendre’)

Changing the sentence structure may not always work because the meaning of a sentence may be lost. This will need to be taken into consideration on a case-by-case basis.

Give in and accept the inevitable

Sometimes, there is just no way to avoid the subjunctive. For example, the expression à moins que (unless) doesn’t really have a substitute. Rewording a sentence with this expression could possibly help, but would be laborious and probably lead to clunky-sounding sentences. As a result, it is much easier to just bite the bullet and learn the subjunctive. You’ll have more ways of expressing yourself in different situations.

INTRODUCTION

The subjunctive tends to cause students a lot of confusion and stress, which is understandable to some degree. While it exists in English, it is not quite as marked as it is in French. The phrase ‘It is important that you be there’ uses the subjunctive, but it may not be immediately obvious because the form resembles that of the simple present. It is more marked in French where it has a completely different conjugation pattern. For example, the sentence ‘Il est important que tu sois là’ (It is important that you be there) is in the subjunctive. Here there is a clear difference between the subjunctive ‘tu sois’ and the indicative ‘tu es’.

The subjunctive is a mood just like the indicative. It is primarily used to express uncertainty and doubt but can also express wishes and desires. It is almost always preceded by ‘que’; in a handful of cases, it is preceded by ‘qui’, and sometimes by neither.

It may help to think of the subjunctive as the expression of uncertainty or doubt regarding the realisation of an action and the expression of subjective experiences (emotions, hopes, wishes, etc.). Not all usage fits neatly within these parameters, but it will help in most cases.

CONJUGATION PATTERN

As with all moods and tenses, the subjunctive has a distinctive conjugation pattern. Regular ‘er’ verbs (e.g. marcher, aimer, jouer, etc.) don’t show as much variation as other verb groups, so they often look the same as the indicative depending on the grammatical person (1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd person singular or ‘je’, ‘tu’ and ‘il/elle’ forms all look more or less identical). The examples below illustrate these variations:

Example 1

Il aime marcher à l’ école tous les matins – He likes walking to school every morning

‘Aimer’ is a regular ‘er’ verb and is used here in what we call the present tense of the indicative.

Elle est surprise qu’il aime marcher à l’ école tous les matins – She is surprised that he likes walking to school every morning

‘Aimer’ here is now in the present tense of the subjunctive, but looks exactly the same as the indicative form

Example 2

Est-ce que tu viens à la réunion ce soir ? – Are you coming to the meeting tonight ?

‘Venir’ is an irregular ‘ir’ verb and is used here in the present tense of the indicative.

Il est important que tu viennes à la réunion ce soir – It is important that you come to the meeting tonight

‘Venir’ here is now in the present tense of the subjunctive, and looks quite different from the indicative form

EXPRESSIONS WHICH ALWAYS USE THE SUBJUNCTIVE

There are quite a few expressions which are always employed with the subjunctive. They include:

 à moins que (unless), de peur que/avoir peur que (for fear that/to be afraid that), afin que (so that), pour que (so that, in order that), à condition que(provided that, with the proviso that), pourvu que (provided that, as long as), vouloir que (to want), bien que (even though, although), quoique (like ‘bien que’), de crainte que (for fear that), quoi que (whatever), falloir que (to be necessary), avant que (before), en attendant que (while waiting for), jusqu’à ce que (until), où que (wherever), sans que (without, unless), souhaiter que (wish that, want that), aimer que (same as ‘souhaiter que’; usually employed in the conditional), éxiger que (to require, to demand), être + adjective + que (for example, être content(e) que, être surpris(e) que, être triste que, etc.), avoir besoin que (to need)

It is worth noting that ‘que’ is used to introduce a clause (for example, ‘his father works too much’ is a clause in the sentence ‘He thinks that his father works too much’). This means a sentence cannot end with ‘que’ because it will have an incomplete meaning. Therefore, all the expressions above need to be followed by a clause (which will contain a verb).

While ‘que’ can generally be translated as ‘that’, sometimes it means other things and at times it cannot be translated at all. While ‘that’ can almost always be omitted without affecting the grammaticality of a sentence in English, ‘que’ is always needed.

The examples below will illustrate these variations (the subjunctive is underlined, while the corresponding infinitive form is placed in brackets at the end of the sentence).

Je veux que tu fasses la vaisselle (faire) – I want you to do the dishes [‘que’ cannot be translated directly]

Bien que l’Internet soit utile, il constitue une menace pour notre santé (être) – Even though the Internet can be useful, it poses a threat to our health [‘que’ cannot be translated directly]

Ma mère me permet de sortir à condition que je revienne avant minuit (revenir) – My mother allows me to go out provided (that) I return before midnight [‘that’ can be omitted here without loss of meaning]