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Subjunctive French can be daunting when you do not get the right lessons. Go through this guide and learn subjunctive French in the most effective way.
Are you familiar with French Subjunctive? Understanding the special verb form called mood usually seems tough to many.
Worry not! To make things easier for you, we have listed here the top things that help you in learning and understanding them effectively.
What is the French Subjunctive?
The grammatical mood that describes the attitude of the subject is referred to as the French subjunctive. Different languages, including French and English, use it to express unreality, subjectivity, or uncertainty of the speaker’s mind. But the frequency of its usage is more seen in French.
Subjunctive comes from two things – subjectivity and unreality and uses the indicative mood. It only uses the present and past tense. If there is some event that is yet to happen in the future, there also present tense is used.
French Subjunctive – Usage
In the French language, subjective is used after conjunctions and verbs, when there are different subjects in different parts of the sentence.
Il veut qu’elle soit présente.
He wants her to be present.
The above sentence has two parts. In the first part, Il is the subject, whereas in the second part, elle is the subject. “Soit” is subjunctive here.
Common verbs after which subjunctive appears:
Wishing something
vouloir que – to want that
désirer que – to wish or desire
aimer que – to like that
aimer mieux que / préférer que – To prefer that
Giving opinion
valoir mieux que – better than or would be better
Fearing something
avoir peur que – be afraid that
To say how you feel
être surpris que – to be surprised that
être content que – to be happy or pleased that
regretter que – regret that or to be sorry that
Some of the verbal expressions that start with il, also have subjunctive.
Il vaut mieux que
It is better that
il faut que
It is necessary that
Formation of the subjunctive with –er verbs
For forming present subjunctive, take the infinitive and replace “er” with the correct ending as per the pronoun used here.
Let us see how donn changes here:
Je – e
Je donne (I give)
Tu – es
Tu donnes (you give)
Il/elle/on – e
Il/elle/on donne (he/she/it give)
Nous – ions
nous donnions (we give)
Vous – iez
vous donniez (you give)
ils/elles – ent
Ils/ elles donnent (they give)
Formation of the subjunctive with –re verbs
For forming present subjunctive, take the infinitive and replace “re” with the correct ending as per the pronoun used here.
You should note here that the endings used here are the same as that used for –er verbs.
Let us see how attend changes here:
Je – e
j’attende (I wait)
Tu – es
tu attendes (you wait)
Il/elle/on – e
Il/elle/on attende (he/she/it waits)
Nous – ions
nous attendions (we wait)
Vous – iez
vous attendiez (you wait)
ils/elles – ent
Ils/ elles attendent (they wait)
Formation of the subjunctive with –ir verbs
For forming present subjunctive, take the infinitive and replace “ir” with the correct ending as per the pronoun used here.
Let us see how fin changes here:
Je – isse
Je finisse (I finish)
Tu – isses
Tu finisses (you finish)
Il/elle/on – isse
Il/elle/on finisse (he/she/it finishes)
Nous – issions
nous finissions (we finish)
Vous – issiez
vous finissiez (you finish)
ils/elles – issent
Ils/ elles finissent (they finish)
Verbs with Irregular subjunctives
While learning French, you will come across plenty of Irregular verbs. For such verbs, you can’t irregularity in the subjunctive.
We are mentioning some of them here:
aller – to go
je (j’) – aille
tu – ailles
il/elle/on – aille
nous – allions
vous – alliez
ils/elles – aillent
avoir – to have
je (j’) – aie
tu – aies
il/elle/on – ait
nous – ayons
vous – ayez
ils/elles – aient
devoir – to have, to must
je (j’) – doive
tu – doives
il/elle/on – doive
nous – devions
vous – deviez
ils/elles – doivent
dire – to say, to tell
je (j’) – dise
tu – dises
il/elle/on – dise
nous – disions
vous – disiez
ils/elles – disent
être – to be
je (j’) – sois
tu – sois
il/elle/on – soit
nous – soyons
vous – soyez
ils/elles – soient
faire – to do, to make
je (j’) – fasse
tu – fasses
il/elle/on – fasse
nous – fassions
vous – fassiez
ils/elles – fassent
pouvoir – to be able to, can
je (j’) – puisse
tu – puisses
il/elle/on – puisse
nous – puissions
vous – puissiez
ils/elles – puissent
prendre – to take
je (j’) – prenne
tu – prennes
il/elle/on – prenne
nous – prenions
vous n- preniez
ils/elles – prennent
savoir – to know
je (j’) – sache
tu – saches
il/elle/on – sache
nous – sachions
vous – sachiez
ils/elles – sachent
venir – to come
je (j’) – vienne
tu – viennes
il/elle/on – vienne
nous – venions
vous – veniez
ils/elles – viennent
vouloir – to come
je (j’) – veuille
tu – veuilles
il/elle/on – veuille
nous – voulions
vous – vouliez
ils/elles – veuillent
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