{"id":21606,"date":"2015-01-26T06:00:28","date_gmt":"2015-01-26T05:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=21606"},"modified":"2017-10-23T13:44:27","modified_gmt":"2017-10-23T11:44:27","slug":"an-introduction-to-the-subjunctive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/an-introduction-to-the-subjunctive\/","title":{"rendered":"An Introduction to the Subjunctive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just the mention of the\u00a0subjonctif\u00a0<\/em>can make French learners tremble in their boots. \u00a0However, this grammatical mood is very common and exists in many languages, including in English. \u00a0In French, the subjonctif\u00a0<\/em>is used very often and serious French learners need to be familiar with it (although there are grammatical ways of getting around using the subjunctive, which will be the topic of a subsequent blog post).<\/p>\n

In all languages, the subjunctive mood expresses anything that is\u00a0not\u00a0<\/em>an assertion (called the indicative mood) but, rather, a doubt, wish, possibility, or judgment. \u00a0While it is not as common in English, it does exist; for example, in the phrase: “I suggest that you be<\/strong> careful.” \u00a0Here you can see how the subjunctive mood is normally found in the subordinate clause of the sentence, which comes after “that”. \u00a0Without the subjunctive, the verb\u00a0be\u00a0<\/strong>would be\u00a0are<\/strong>, such as in “you are careful”. \u00a0However, the subjunctive here is necessary because it is expressing a\u00a0suggestion<\/em> rather than an assertion.<\/p>\n

Another example in English is “I wish that she were<\/strong> here right now”. \u00a0Here, the\u00a0were\u00a0<\/strong>is in the subjunctive mood; otherwise, the grammatically correct verb form would be\u00a0was\u00a0<\/strong>as in: “she was here”.\u00a0The subjunctive must be used in this sentence because it expresses a\u00a0wish.<\/em><\/p>\n

The French subjunctive works in a similar way. \u00a0Whenever doubt or possibility is expressed,\u00a0le subjonctif\u00a0<\/em>is required. \u00a0Due to the construction of the French language, this occurs a lot. \u00a0However, there is a silver lining to the difficult French subjunctive: You can recognize it ninety percent of the time because it will nearly always follow a que<\/em>, as explained in the last post. \u00a0You can see that English works in a similar manner: In the examples above, “I suggest\u00a0that<\/strong>” and “I wish that”\u00a0<\/b>trigger the use of the subjunctive mood.<\/p>\n

It’s also important to note that le subjonctif<\/em> is NOT a tense, but a mood. \u00a0This means that the tense does not always need to be specifically defined in the clause that uses the subjunctive. \u00a0The present-tense subjunctive form expresses both present and future tenses, and the past-tense subjunctive form is used more rarely.<\/p>\n

Here are some more rules for the use of the French subjunctive:<\/p>\n