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French Subjunctive | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| sillygoose1 Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 4637 days ago 566 posts - 814 votes  Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish, French Studies: German, Latin | Message 1 of 16 27 July 2012 at 4:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm very confused on when to use it or when it's supposed to be used. I can recognize it fine, however.
At first, I thought it only had to be used with il faut, but now Using French is introducing it without any sort of explanation without il faut. If anyone could answer, I'd appreciate it a lot. Thanks. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Itikar Groupie Italy Joined 4670 days ago 94 posts - 158 votes Speaks: Italian* | Message 2 of 16 27 July 2012 at 5:13pm | IP Logged | ||
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A pair of tips for subjunctive in French (and possibly in other Romance languages):
-Subjunctive can be used in many places, but not in all of them it is compulsory. When you can choose to use it optionally it gives an aura of uncertainty or of desire to the sentence. I.e. J'espère qu'il est a sa maison. ---> I hope he is in his house. (I simply hope) J'espère qu'il soit a sa maison. ---> I hope he is in his house. (But here I wish that he could be there) -Some expressions or conjunctions require always the subjunctive after them. You have to learn them. One is "il faut" another example is "quoique". "Quoique je sois ici maintenant, j'aurais voulu être là-bas" "Although I am here now, I would have liked to be there" -Some verbs require the subjunctive in the sentence that comes after them. You have to learn them. For example one is "to want"/"vouloir". "Ma mère veut que je sois plus gentil" "My mother wants that I be kinder" <--- I think in this case it is possible to use the subjunctive in English as well :) -At least in French the imperfect subjunctive is used rarely. And with rarely I mean quite rarer than French simple past. Of course these are small tips, and the subjunctive mood has many subtilieties, peculiarities and differences in all Romance languages. But still I hope they might have some usefulness. :) edit: edited according to Michel1020 corrections. Thanks! Edited by Itikar on 27 July 2012 at 6:48pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Michel1020 Tetraglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 5018 days ago 365 posts - 559 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish, Dutch | Message 3 of 16 27 July 2012 at 5:58pm | IP Logged | ||
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We never say "Je pense qu'il soit..." this is not correct however "Je ne pense pas qu'il soit ..." is correct. Je ne pense pas qu'il est ... is less correct but very acceptable.
The correct verb is vouloir - not vouler that does not exist - one form of vouloir is pronounced as vouler would be - Vous voulez. (Some of the English don't sound perfect to me but I would prefer some native opinion.) Edited by Michel1020 on 27 July 2012 at 5:59pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| freakyaye Senior Member Australia Joined 4839 days ago 107 posts - 152 votes | Message 4 of 16 27 July 2012 at 6:06pm | IP Logged | ||
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The subjunctive is also used when
connecting a main sentence with a co- ordinating sentence, and when using two subjects in one sentence. For example, I am sorry he is not here. Je regrette qu'il ne soit pas là. Is the subjunctive because "I am sorry" is a sentence by itself, and is connected with "He is not here" by "that". I was taught most "that" sentences are subjunctive. Also notice that in that sentence both "I" and "he" are subjects. Please correct me if i'm wrong. Here is a great site: http://www.frenchtoday.com/blog/understand ing-french-subjunc tive Updated example Edited by freakyaye on 27 July 2012 at 8:44pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| sillygoose1 Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 4637 days ago 566 posts - 814 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish, French Studies: German, Latin | Message 5 of 16 27 July 2012 at 6:21pm | IP Logged | ||
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Ah ok, I understand now.
In Using French, I did notice the subjunctive always came after "que", but I know why now at least, haha. Thanks a bunch! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Itikar Groupie Italy Joined 4670 days ago 94 posts - 158 votes Speaks: Italian* | Message 6 of 16 27 July 2012 at 6:49pm | IP Logged | ||
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@Michel1020:
Yes I know my French is bad. :D Thank you for corrections :) especially for "vouler". -_-' Regarding "je pense qu'il soit" I fell in error because my French grammar states that after opinion verbs it is possible to use the subjunctive, but it expresses a great doubt and uncertainty. After a search in Google it appears it was so... some hundreds years ago. "Le peuple juge que ce soit tyrannie" Montaigne However I think "espérer que" can still be used both with indicative (more common) and with subjunctive, if it expresses a sentiment or desire, especially if those are impossible ones. http:// www.francaisfacile.com/forum/lire.php?num=7&msg=52970&titre= Esp%E9rer%2Bsubjonctif%3F It seems however there is a bit of disagreement on the topic. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Michel1020 Tetraglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 5018 days ago 365 posts - 559 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish, Dutch | Message 7 of 16 27 July 2012 at 7:23pm | IP Logged | ||
I think that he is coming tomorrow. I would translate either by Je pense qu'il vient demain. Je pense qu'il viendra demain. Je pense qu'il va venir demain. No subjunctive here. If you put those sentences in the negative you could get a subjunctive only for the first one. Je ne pense pas qu'il vient demain. Je ne pense pas qu'il vienne demain. ( subjunctive) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
 emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5533 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 8 of 16 27 July 2012 at 7:27pm | IP Logged | ||
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There's a nice explanation of the French subjuctive here:
french.about.com As I understand it, many Romance languages allow you to choose between the indicative and subjunctive depending on what you're trying to express (which means you need to make a judgement call). This seems to be pretty rare in French. Instead, you mostly have a list of rules saying things like "'Je souhaite que' takes the subjunctive, but 'Je espère que' takes the indicative." Sometimes, you'll have a choice, but I think that's more the exception than the rule. In a way, this is good news. Figure out which constructions you like to use, memorize which verb form they take, train yourself to use it, and you're done. Oh, and if you want to practice the subjunctive forms of verbs, you can always use "Il faut que" a zillion times a day. I hear native French speakers using it constantly, so even if you overuse it, nobody's likely to notice. :-) Edited by emk on 27 July 2012 at 7:29pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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