The French subjunctive
The short answer
The subjunctive is a mood, not a tense, and it is triggered rather than chosen: a fixed set of expressions followed by que force it. Build it from the ils form of the present, and learn ten irregulars. In practice only the present subjunctive is needed to speak French well.
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The rule
The subjunctive is the mood French uses after expressions of will, doubt, emotion and judgement. It is formed from the ils form of the present: drop the -ent and add -e, -es, -e, -ions, -iez, -ent. About ten verbs are irregular, and between them they cover most of what you will hear. The subjunctive is triggered by the expression before que rather than decided by the speaker, so the useful skill is recognising the trigger, not judging whether something feels uncertain enough to need it.
| Form | Structure | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Stem | ils form of the presentminus -ent | ils finissent → finiss- |
| Endings | -e-es-e-ions-iez-ent | que je finisse |
| Nous and vous | identical to the imparfait | que nous finissions |
| Irregular | êtreavoirallerfairepouvoirsavoirvouloir | que je sois, que j’aie, que j’aille |
| Past subjunctive | subjunctive of avoir/êtreparticiple | que j’aie fini |
Part 1 of 3
Forming it
The regular formation is one rule: take the ils form of the present, drop -ent, add the subjunctive endings. Ils prennent gives prenn-, so que je prenne. Ils écrivent gives écriv-, so que j’écrive. Verbs that look irregular in the present usually behave here.
The nous and vous forms are identical to the imparfait: que nous fassions, que vous fassiez, which halves what there is to learn and is worth knowing as a shortcut rather than discovering by accident.
Il faut que tu prennes une décision.
You need to make a decision.
Je veux qu’elle écrive elle-même.
I want her to write it herself.
Il faut que nous partions maintenant.
We need to leave now.
NBPartions is also the imparfait form. The two are always identical in nous and vous.
Part 2 of 3
The irregulars worth learning
Ten verbs are irregular and they are the ten you use constantly: être (que je sois), avoir (que j’aie), aller (que j’aille), faire (que je fasse), pouvoir (que je puisse), savoir (que je sache), vouloir (que je veuille), falloir (qu’il faille), valoir (qu’il vaille) and pleuvoir (qu’il pleuve).
Aller and vouloir also change stem between singular and plural: que j’aille but que nous allions, que je veuille but que nous voulions. That is the only extra complication in the whole list.
Je ne pense pas qu’il soit au courant.
I don’t think he knows about it.
Il faut que j’aille à la banque.
I need to go to the bank.
Bien que ce soit cher, ça vaut la peine.
Even though it’s expensive, it’s worth it.
Part 3 of 3
What triggers it
Four families cover nearly everything: will and obligation (vouloir que, il faut que, exiger que), doubt and denial (douter que, ne pas croire que, il est possible que), emotion (être content que, avoir peur que, regretter que), and judgement (il est important que, il vaut mieux que, c’est dommage que).
Separately there are conjunctions that take it by convention, not by meaning: bien que, avant que, pour que, jusqu’à ce que, à moins que, sans que. These have to be memorised as a list, because no amount of reasoning about certainty will predict them.
Il vaut mieux que vous réserviez à l’avance.
You’d be better off booking in advance.
Je reste jusqu’à ce qu’il revienne.
I’m staying until he gets back.
Elle a peur que ce ne soit trop tard.
She’s afraid it may be too late.
NBThe ne here is expletive. It carries no negative meaning and is optional in speech.
Mistakes to avoid
What learners actually get wrong
J’espère que tu ailles mieux.
J’espère que tu vas mieux.
Espérer takes the indicative. It is the most common subjunctive error there is, and the meaning gives no clue, souhaiter que, which means almost the same, does take the subjunctive.
Je veux que je vienne.
Je veux venir.
When both halves share a subject, French drops que and uses an infinitive. The version with que is not a stylistic slip; it is not a possible sentence.
Il faut que je vais au bureau.
Il faut que j’aille au bureau.
Il faut que is one of the strongest triggers in the language, and aller is irregular. This pairing, a very common trigger with a very common irregular verb, is worth practicing on its own.
Avant qu’il est parti, nous avons parlé.
Avant qu’il soit parti, nous avons parlé.
Avant que takes the subjunctive; après que takes the indicative. The two look symmetrical and behave differently, which is why they are best learned as a pair rather than separately.
Now use it
Subjonctif présent
Spot the trigger, then pick subjonctif or indicatif. Reading a rule and being able to apply it are different skills, and only one of them shows up when you speak.
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Questions
Asked and answered
- Do I need the imperfect subjunctive?
- Only to recognise it. Qu’il fût and qu’elle prît belong to literature and to deliberately archaic or comic writing, and no French speaker produces them in conversation. Where a textbook would use the imperfect subjunctive, modern French simply uses the present.
- Is the subjunctive dying out?
- The present subjunctive is not, il faut que, bien que and je veux que are everyday speech at every register. What has genuinely faded is the imperfect and pluperfect subjunctive, which is why the mood can feel more formal in older textbooks than it does in life.
- How do I know if an expression is a trigger?
- Learn the four families, then treat anything else as indicative until you meet it. Guessing from feel does not work, because the pattern is not really about uncertainty: il est probable que takes the indicative while il est possible que takes the subjunctive, and no intuition will separate those two.