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French subjunctive? What is it?? I can almost see the question marks hovering around your head right now. But no worries, this article will strive to replace those question marks with a huge light bulb that will make you go… french subjunctive

To make things a lot easier for you, we have listed down five things that you need to know about the French subjunctive.

In case you need a background music to make the lesson so much more interesting, here’s some Jean Baptiste Lully music for you to play. Lully was a naturalized French baroque composer from the 1600s. And did you know that Baroque music has a fantastic effect on your brain cells? It makes you grasp ideas quickly! Super cool huh.

So there you go (and you’re welcome!)


So here are the 5 things about the subjunctive.

1. WHAT EXACTLY IT IS

subjunctive

The subjunctive is a grammatical mood which is found in different languages including English and French. When it comes to frequency of usage, however, it is so much more widely used in French than in English.

The subjunctive is used to express varied states of unreality or uncertainty like some kind of judgment, wish, possibility, opinion, doubt, emotion, or something that has not occurred yet.

You need to remember two things when it comes to what the subjunctive means:

subjunctive +unreality
If it doesn’t fall into either category, you usually make use of the indicative mood.

There is no future tense usage of the subjunctive, only past and present. If it is set to happen in the future, the present tense is being used.

2. ITS ENGLISH COUNTERPART

We have mentioned that the English subjunctive is not as often used as in French, but we use it in everyday modern English. This happens when we say “If I were you”, “It is important that you stop to read the signs”, and similar subjective statements.

The subjunctive often appears in subordinate clauses especially that-clauses.

More examples:

Is it really necessary that we stop to read each and every sign?”

He suggested that you continue with your noble path.

3. WHERE AND WHEN TO USE IT

In French, we use the subjunctive after certain words and conjunctions that have two parts and two different subjects.

Example: Nous voulons qu’elle soit heureuse. (We want her to be happy).

The first part of the sentence uses nous as the subject, while the second part uses elle. Therefore, the subjunctive soit is necessary.

The subjunctives usually appear after the following verbs:

wishing something: vouloir que and désirer que (which means to wish that or to want) aimer que (meaning to like that), aimer mieux que and préférer que (which means to prefer that)
fearing something: avoir peur que (which means to be afraid that)
giving your opinion: croire que (which means to think that)
saying how you feel:
◦ regretter que (meaning to be sorry that)

◦ être content que (meaning to be pleased that)

◦ être surpris que (meaning to be surprised that)

◦ etc.

For more details about this particular topic, proceed to this link for the compiled list of verbs and expressions that need to be followed with a subjunctive.

The subjunctive may also appear in some expressions that begin with il.

Some examples:

il faut que (it is necessary that)

il vaut mieux que (it is better that)



4. HOW TO FORM THE SUBJUNCTIVE

For verbs that end with -er, here is how you form the subjunctive:

infinitive
These are the endings to be added, depending on the pronoun it is being used with.

For je (j’), add the ending -e (example: je donne)
For tu, add the ending -es (example: tu donnes)
For il, elle, or on, add the ending -e (examples: il donne, elle donne, on donne)
For nous, add the ending -ions (example: nous donnions)
For vous, add the ending -iez (example: vous donniez)
For ils or elles, add the ending -ent (examples: ils donnent, elles donnent)
Take note that the endings are basically the same with that of the present tense except for nous and vous which is same as the imperfect tense and comes with an extra -i-.

For verbs that end with -ir, you form the subjunctive by using this simple formula:

infinitive less

For je (j’), add the ending -isse (example: je finisse)
For tu, add the ending -isses (example: tu finisses)
For il, elle, or on, add the ending -isse (examples: il finisse, elle finisse, on finisse)
For nous, add the ending -issions (example: nous finissions)
For vous, add the ending -issiez (example: vous finissiez)
For ils or elles, add the ending -issent (examples: ils finissient, elles finissient)
For verbs that end with -re, the subjunctive is formed by following this guide:

infinitive less -re
Please note that the endings are the same as the endings for the -er verbs:

For je (j’), add the ending -e (example: je attende)
For tu, add the ending -es (example: tu attendes)
For il, elle, or on, add the ending -e (examples: il attende, elle attende, on attende)
For nous, add the ending -ions (example: nous attendions)
For vous, add the ending -iez (example: vous attendiez)
For ils or elles, add the ending -ent (examples: ils attendent, elles attendent)


5. THE IRREGULARS

Unfortunately, in grammar just as in life, there is no way to avoid the irregular, rule-breaking few. And there’s nothing else we could do about these but to tolerate them while being wary of them at the same time.

Here are the irregular verbs in the subjunctive.

VERB
MEANING
JE
TU
aller to go aille ailles
avoir to have aie aies
devoir to have to, must doive doives
dire to say, to tell dise dises
être to be sois sois
faire to do, to make fasse fasses
pouvoir to be able to, can puisse puisses
prendre to take prenne prennes
savoir to know sache saches
venir to come vienne viennes
vouloir to want to veuille veullles
IL/ELLE/ON
NOUS
VOUS
ILS/ELLES
aille allions alliez aillent
ait ayons ayez aient
doive devions deviez doivent
dise dlsions disiez disent
soit soyons soyez soyent
fasse fassions fassiez fassent
puisse puissions puissiez puissent
prenne prenions preniez prennent
sache sachions sachiez sachent
vienne venions veniez viennent
veuille voulions voullez veuillent
Examples source: Collins Easy Learning French Grammar

So with that, we end our lesson in the French subjunctive.

But wait!!!

Before you go, here are a few key points to wrap up our lesson:

The subjunctive is used to express varied states of unreality or uncertainty like some kind of judgment, wish, possibility, opinion, doubt, emotion, or something that has not occurred yet.
The subjunctive appears after certain words and conjunctions that have two parts and two different subjects. It is also found after expressions that start with il.
The verb stem for the subjunctive is the same as the stem for present tense.
Verbs that end in -er and -ir have the same endings: -e, -es, -e, -ions, -iez, -ent.
Verbs that end in -ir have the following endings in the subjunctive mood: -isse, -isses, -isse, -issions, -issiez, -issent.
(So okay, you can turn off the Baroque music now. Or not. Totally up to you.)