French · Rung 23 of 26

Subjunctive

The French subjunctive is built on the third person plural of the present, dropping -ent and adding -e, -es, -e, -ions, -iez, -ent: ils parlent gives que je parle. The irregulars are few and very common: être (sois), avoir (aie), aller (aille), faire (fasse), pouvoir (puisse), savoir (sache), vouloir (veuille). What it takes is fixed: after il faut que, vouloir que, avant que, bien que, pour que and expressions of feeling and doubt. But after espérer que it uses the indicative, and after penser que only in the negative or the interrogative. And there is no future subjunctive: where English says “when you come”, French says quand tu viendras, with a future.

Where this sits

Comes after
Imparfait against passé composé

Exercises from this rung

Generated by the app, from easiest to hardest

  1. Je veux que tu ___ à l'heure. (être)

    • sois
    • serais
    • es
    • seras

    Why être is irregular in the subjunctive: sois, sois, soit, soyons, soyez, soient. And vouloir que takes the subjunctive, unlike the English infinitive construction.

    easier

  2. Bien qu'il ___ fatigué, il travaille.

    • était
    • est
    • sera
    • soit

    Why Some conjunctions always take the subjunctive, whatever the sense: bien que, avant que, pour que, jusqu'à ce que, à condition que, sans que. They are fixed.

    in between

  3. Je pars avant qu'il ___ . (arriver)

    • arrive
    • est arrivé
    • arrivera
    • arrivait

    Why avant que takes the subjunctive, but après que takes the indicative, and that asymmetry surprises everyone: what has already happened is not hypothetical. Many French speakers get this one wrong too.

    harder