Summary Chapter 12

Verbal Moods: 

"Moods" are categories of verbal paradigms that present distinctive ways of viewing/representing actions. French has three or four moods: the indicative, the imperative, the subjunctive and (according to some grammarians) the conditional. Moods are different from tenses. In fact, the indicative, the subjunctive, and the conditional each have multiple tenses.

Subjunctive Mood: 

a. meaning/use: The subjunctive, like the imperative, expresses meanings other than the factual assertions of the indicative. 

Je voudrais que tout se passe bien pour toi demain.

Nous avons peur qu’il pleuve toute la semaine.

Est-il possible que les voitures volent dans l’air?

These relative unrealities (fantasies, fears, figments…) can very often be translated into English with the simple present or future (indicative), or sometimes with the modal auxiliaries might or should. It is, therefore, essential first and foremost, to identify it and, ideally, to recognize the contextual reason for its use.

Subjunctive forms are, as the name suggests, primarily found in lower clauses (sub-joined). The main clause, which is said to trigger or take the subjunctive in the lower clause, can be grouped in the following categories

will or volition: je veux que…; j'insiste que...

fear: il a peur que…; elle craint que...

doubt: je doute que…; il est douteux que...

emotion: nous sommes désolés que…; êtes-vous content que…?

obligation: il est nécessaire que...

judgment: il vaut mieux que...

(Im)possibility: il se peut que…; il est possible que…; il est impossible que...

b. conjugation: the present subjunctive is formed by a stem and very regular endings

regular endings are: -e, -es, -e; -ions, -iez, ent

stems: regular stems are derived from the "ils/elles" form of the present indicative

(ils) parl-(ent), (elles) choisiss-(ent), (ils) vend-(ent), (elles) écriv-(ent)

avoir and être each have two irregular stems:

Other verbs with one or two irregular stems: 

Past Subjunctive:

The past subjunctive (or 'past indefinite subjunctive') is essentially the subjunctive equivalent of the passé composé: auxiliary (être/avoir in the present subjunctive) + past participle.

The past subjunctive is most often translated into English as if it were the indicative passé composé, although some issues of "sequence of tenses" can complicate usage. For now, just read this tense as a basic past tense.

Conjunctions that introduce the subjunctive:

quoique / bien que ('although)

pour que / afin que ('in order that')

en attendant que / jusqu'à ce que ('until')

sans que ('unless', 'without that')

au cas que ('in the case that')

de sorte que ('so that')

nonobstant que ('in spite of the fact that')

pourvu que ('provided that')

supposé que ('supposé que')

Mettre ('to put'):

present: je mets, tu mets, il/elle met; nous mettons, vous mettez, ils/elles mettent

past participle: mis

future/conditional stem: mettr-

passé simple: je mis, tu mis, il mit; nous mîmes, vous mîtes, ils/elles mirent

compounds conjugated like mettre:

admettre

commettre

émettre

omettre

permettre

promettre

remettre

soumettre

transmettre

Pleonastic "ne": 

This odd phrase refers to use of the negative term "ne" when it does not actually negate the following verb. This happens in a number of limited situations:

• in relative clauses following comparatives

• most commonly, in subjunctive clauses introduced by

expressions of 'fear': je crains que…, de crainte que...

expressions of 'doubt': je doute que...

the conjunctions avant que… and à moins que… ('until…,' 'unless…')

(see pp. 228-9 for complete examples)

NB: (1) If the ne is accompanied by a second negative element (pas, jamais, etc.), there is a negation.

       (2) A small number of verbs (cesser, oser, pouvoir, savoir) can be fully negated with ne alone, in elegant prose: Je ne peux le croire. Nous ne saurions répondre à cette insulte !

       (3) The pleonastic ne is generally lost in translation -- i.e., the verb it precedes is expressed simply in the affirmative in English. But as readers of French you might still savor the slight hesitation implied, similar to English phrases beginning "Lest…"