2. A mood
• Like the indicative or the conditional, the
subjunctive is a mood, not a tense.
• Rather than indicating when something
happened, the subjunctive indicates the
attitude of the speaker to what is expressed.
• In French, the subjunctive involves
expressions of doubt, desire, necessity, fear,
and possibility.
3. Formation: the stem
• The subjunctive stem is the 3rd person plural
("ils") form of the verb, minus the "ent."
• Parler: ils parlent: parl (stem)
• Review: regular verbs in the present use the
infinitive minus "er," "ir," or "re" as the stem. The
impeferct uses the "nous" form minus the "ons"
as the stem. Both the future and the conditional
use the infinitive (minus the "e" for "re" verbs as
the stem).
4. Formation: endings
• The endings for the subjunctive are: e/es/e/ions/iez/ent.
• The subjunctive is used in a dependent clause, so it is
always introduced with "que."
• que je parle/que tu parles/qu'il parle/que nous parlions/
que vous parliez/qu'ils parlent
• Notice that some forms of the subjunctive resemble the
present and that some resemble the imperfect. Context
become more and more important as you learn French.
5. Usage
• Desire: Je veux que vous me parliez en français.
• Necessity: Il faut que vous écoutiez en classe.
• Fear: Le prof a peur que ses étudiants n'étudient pas
assez.
• Possibility: Il est possible que vous ne comprenniez pas.
• In these example, each clause has a different subject. If
the subject is the same, just use "de" plus the infinitive: "Je
veux parler en français," "Il faut écouter en classe," "Le prof
a peur d'étudier," "Il est possible de ne pas comprendre."
6. Usage
• You will often find the subjunctive after
phrases such as "il faut que," which indicates
obligation as in the sense of "must." "Il faut" os
invariable; the subject can never be anything
but "il."
• In everyday speech, French speakers often
avoid the subjunctive, but it is imperative to
learn it in order to write properly: il faut que
vous aprenniez utilser le subjonctif
7. Irregulars
• Some verbs are completely irregular in the
subjunctive:
• être: que je sois/que tu sois/qu'il soit/que nous
soyons/que vous soyez/qu'ils soient
• avoir: que j'aie/que tu aies/qu'il ait/que nous
ayons/que vous ayez/qu'ils aient
8. Irregulars
• Some verbs have irregular stems, but regular
endings.
• Faire: fass- (que je fasse/que tu fasses/qu'il
fasse/que nous fassions/qu'ils fassent)
• Savoir: sache- (conjugaison???)
• Pouvoir: puiss- (conjugaison???)
9. Irregulars
• Some verbs use one stem for je/tu/il/ils and
another for nous/vous.
• Vouloir: veuill-/voul- (que je veuille/que tu
veuilles/qu'il veuille/que nous voulions/que vous
vouliez/qu'ils veuillent)
• Aller: aille-/all- (conjugaison???)
• Now, look at our verb worksheet and figure out
the subjunctive for each of the 10 verbs!
