French subjunctive for English speakers

Finally - an easier way to learn (and master) the French subjunctive for English speakers!
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If you’re an English speaker, you might have trouble using the French subjunctive. It comes up a lot in the comments on Comme une Française!
Today, let's discover this piece of French grammar in more detail, so you can master it once and for all.
Take care and stay safe.
😘 from Grenoble, France.
Géraldine

[@colabus1]

One of the problems when teaching the french subjunctive is that most teacher don’t realise that the subjunctive exists in english. Once you get your head around that it is easier to learn the french.

[@clammerify]

exactly

[@nikkibray5301]

I have been learning french for 5 months now independently and until now had just decided to ignore the subjunctive! Thanks for this lesson.

[@meesamrizvi007]

J'adore vos leçons...Merci beaucoup

[@johnfdm123]

We use the subjunctive in English, too, but a lot of people don't even realize they're using it. "I suggested that he leave," for instance, is subjunctive. (It often goes hand-in-hand with "that" in English just as it does in French (and Italian, Spanish, etc.). Also, as with other languages, English uses the subjunctive for wishing something to be so (occasions on which we might otherwise use the weird verb "may"), as in "long live the king" ("Vive la France!" for instance, is subjunctive), and in ceremonial or reverential occasions (e.g., "the Lord be with you"). I never understood what "till death do us part" means until I learned about the subjunctive case. "So be it" is also subjunctive, which I mention because its French counterpart, "soit!" is one of the exceptional cases in French in which the final "t" in a word is pronounced (sounds just like "swat" in English).

[@TheSirmousavi]

Be that as it may 😉

[@martinneumann7783]

Comme t'as raison : c'est fantastique ! Merci, Géraldine !

[@christineyee2117]

J'aime beaucoup faire le quiz orale! Très utile.

[@dancleary578]

Thank you Géraldine! You are always so happy and upbeat! Thanks for your lessons. :-)

[@abbycaudle4426]

Thank you so much! This was incredibly helpful!! (:

[@josedosanjos2200]

Thank you so much for the lessons.

[@DavidIrthum]

Merci' beaucoup!

[@BruceM8]

Merci, Géraldine ! Ce vidéo est très utile et pratique.

[@jemesutton1805]

Géraldine, j'adore les souvenirs mexicains au fond, super!

[@Hadrianus01]

Merci! Tres utile et clair.

[@dannyv2230]

Wow this was really helpful. I just got to the subjunctive and wasn't getting it too well until your video. Thank you!

[@RazzleRed543]

Merci bcp! I have to do a quiz on Le Subjonctif for my French class now and this was great revision!

[@patriciaapetrone]

Thank you so much for making these videos. Your are a great teacher. Your explanations and encouragement give me hope.

[@janainaalencar8178]

Muito obrigada Géraldine ❤️

[@dawei53]

Best explanation and examples ever.

[@devorapeneva9715]

Merci, beaucoup!

[@m.abiramimuthukrishnan6958]

Merci beaucoup!

[@ahmedfarrag2972]

Merci beaucoup por vos leçons et votre méthode d'expliquer c'est très utile et facile à comprendre. 😊

[@pbcanuckrun]

Super helpful, thanks!

[@jdryak]

Excellent channel! So many thanks for all your efforts to promote this wonderful language!

[@BigOilerFan2011]

Very nice explanation of a difficult concept to English speakers.

[@Books_Anime_92]

When I was taking French in college we didn't get to the subjunctif and I was interested in learning this conjugation and how to use it. Thank you for posting this video. I am going to have to watch it more than once to get the hang of it.

[@damarisjeremiah9584]

Merci beaucoup 🙏

[@DArtagnonW]

Another very helpful video.

[@timobreumelhof88]

I have to say after watching 5 videos your's is the clearest explanation of this complicated subject. You also convinced me I better just ignore it and spend my energy on other parts of learning French for now. Thank you. :-)

[@atransstar]

Merci beaucoup pour avoir réalisé cette vidéo. Elle a rendu le subjonctif français beaucoup plus facile à comprendre. J'ai beaucoup appris grâce à cette vidéo.

[@Rod-dg7fy]

je viens de trouver cette chaine et je dois dire que cette video est brillante. je continue d'asser d'ammeliorer mon francais. Desole pour les fauts de grammaire. Je juste tape rapidement j'utilise un clavier en englaise sur mon ordi. Merci Aussie la proffe est tres mignonne!

[@susanbartone1347]

Thank you for a great lesson! You are a great and supportive teacher.

[@staratlas5826]

C'est très utile! Je savais que le subjonctif était souvent utilisé pour exprimer des doutes, mais je pensais que c'était seulement après le verbe «douter». Maintenant, j'apprends de cette vidéo à utiliser le subjonctif pour former la structure de «ne pense pas que» aussi. Merci beaucoup.

[@rahmansiddik1932]

merci

[@iparipaitegianiparipaitegi4643]

In a more simple way, the subjunctive mode is used when you’re not talking a out facts. For facts, we use in french the indicative mode. But to express wishes, orders, dreams... we use the subjunctive. Like in english: God save the Queen. That’s a wish, thus subjunctive mode. If it were a fact, it’d be: God saves the Queen. Same with: God bless America. It’s the subjunctive mode. The indicative is: God blesses America.

[@es4666]

That is a bad example because depending on how it is expressed it could be imperative. I live in England and it is said and chanted as a demand to God. For example, the verb visit in the indicative "I visit that fabulous cat" has the same form as in the subjunctive "They suggested that I visit that fabulous cat." But if we replace I with she, the subjunctive form of the verb visit is noticeably different: in the indicative we have "She visits that fabulous cat"; in the subjunctive it's "They suggested that she visit that fabulous cat."

[@johnstonewall917]

Where were you when I first started learning French 60 years ago!! I regret to confess that when I use 'il faut que' I know that the subjunctive is needed but munbling gets me out of many difficulties!

[@gusinfante]

Portuguese subjunctive: hold my 2 beers 😂

[@pensatoreseneca]

Portuguese sucks

[@marizamentzou3293]

Super video ! Merci Geraldine

[@tonyjohn4203]

Bonjour mon ange, je suis content de te voir ici 🤝 C'est vraiment 🌷🌹🙏. Vous avez une très belle collection de photos. Je crois que vous êtes une femme gentille et sincère. Mon nom est Tony! Je veux être votre ami, veuillez m'ajouter sur WhatsApp, [phone]

[@chezammestickle4254]

Yes loved the park ones

[@marieroslind1479]

Thank you very much for this very clear lesson! Subjonctif is difficult for all non-French speaking persons, I think... This was very clarifying! Thank’s a lot!

[@malardjm]

It was enlightening for this native French speaker.

[@iparipaitegianiparipaitegi4643]

Only for people whose language doesn’t use the subjunctive mode

[@imanepink]

Nah it's hard for me too

[@johnknight9150]

I think Quoi que ce soit would probably be closer to the English "Whatever it may be" or the outmoded "Whatever it be" (the second is probably a more direct translation, but not something you would likely see in Modern English).

[@archstanton9638]

Super!

[@watvid1]

Can you please do a video between the difference of au sol/par terre ?

[@bompykaushal9340]

Salut,madame! J'ai bien kiffée votre vidéo! Et bien que je ne me sois pas trompé même une fois, je dois faire les aveux complets que le subjonctif est mon talon d'Achille! Il me déroute beaucoup et me casse les pieds à tel point que mon reuf(frère) me dit en me tournant en bourrique que moi! j'ai le "don de me tromper"! Mais dorénavant j'espère ne plus faire d'erreurs! Je vous sais gré! Salut et à bientôt!

[@bompykaushal9340]

Salut,madame! Il me tarde de regarder votre vidéo!( J'ai hâte de) Au revoir!

[@DiggerWhoops]

Great lesson...merci. I'd only add this one comment: Seems you should define more specifically what is the subjunctive case. I think you're assuming that we English speakers know what that is. Most of us don't...trust me. LOL!!!

[@philippenachtergal6077]

Note that it's not always obvious. If you open a grammar book, you'll probably see that "après que" ( "after (that)" ) is followed by the indicative. That's because the subjunctive is in theory there to imply a doubt, a possibility which doesn't really make sense with "après que". In practice however, you are much more likely to hear "après que +subjunctive" than "après que + indicative". It's common enough that many grammar books will mention the "common mistake" and they will probably drop the matter at some point and just admit that French has evolved in that regard. But we do stick to the indicative with "dès que" ("as soon as")

[@malku65]

Mon Dieu, je me rends compte que le français et l'espagnol se ressemblent plus que je ne l'imaginais: dans ces exemples, l'indicatif pour les phrases positives et le subjonctif pour les phrases négatives est le même en espagnol.

[@TheSirmousavi]

C'est pareil même en persan

[@Tenuto40]

Does it make sense with souhaiter, so: je souhaite que (subjonctif)?

[@ishpreetsingh5087]

Merci jai 3 du 4

[@mayanavaratnasingam876]

I got 3/4 on the quiz! The trick question got me

[@ralphtomlinson4520]

If you had used the subjunctive on that question in some parishes in Louisiana, it would have been correct.

[@mayanavaratnasingam876]

@@ralphtomlinson4520 Thanks! Good to know :)

[@gamewithgreg]

I got 3 out of 4. I fell for your trick question

[@m.abiramimuthukrishnan6958]

Could you explain the usage of the verbs savoir and conaitre though they have similar meaning it's different

[@bekkymeekings1636]

Bonjour, savoir and connaître both mean to know, but connaître is used if you’re talking about a place or person for example - je te connais- and savoir is used for facts for example - je sais que tu es malade

[@starstruck4eva08]

I got 4 right !

[@ralphtomlinson4520]

En quelqe paroisses louisiannaises, on utilise toujours le conjonctif après "penser" ou "creïre", n'importe pas affirmatif ou negatif (comme en italien, on utilise toujours le conjonctif après "pensare" et "credere"; espagnol de même après "pensar" ou "creer"). En quelque autre paroisses, on utilise pas jamais le conjonctif.

[@SAGHAJAR]

Bonjour Géraldine, je crois que personne ne peut pas maîtriser le français à moins de vivre en france, similarly you came to the UK to learn English otherwise you wouldn’t have spoken English fluently, correctly & accurately as you do, you would agree that English is much easier compared to French.

[@gagapa76]

Je me permets une petite correction, en français on dirait : " [...] personne ne peut maîtriser le français à moins [...]" Le "pas" ne se dit pas pour cette phrase.

[@Kitiwake]

I got all three right... But my spelling was slightly off.

[@susanbartone1347]

I got 3 correct. I missed the tricky one...je pense que (non- negatif). Oooh la la.

[@tonyjohn4203]

Bonjour mon ange, je suis content de te voir ici 🤝 C'est vraiment 🌷🌹🙏. Vous avez une très belle collection de photos. Je crois que vous êtes une femme gentille et sincère. Mon nom est Tony! Je veux être votre ami, veuillez m'ajouter sur WhatsApp, [phone]

[@trumpet9]

Indicative next?

[@dencameron3450]

You suit your hair in that style :)

[@imanefazer4566]

Got 3/4 right

[@Ravi-yn8co]

Devrait-on apprendre les autres temps du subjonctif ainsi que le présent, par exemple le subjonctif passé et subjonctif imparfait (l'imparfait est seulement littéraire je crois)?

[@WoodyGamesUK]

Le subjonctif passe, oui, il s'utilise aussi naturellement que le passé composé. Le subjonctif imparfait, en revanche, n'est pas utilisé a l'oral (ou très peu), et meme a l'écrit la plupart des gens l'évitent (sauf dans un style très littéraire), car ils n'en connaissent pas la conjugaison.

[@Ravi-yn8co]

@@WoodyGamesUK merci !

[@lohphat]

English has a subjective too and the grammar Nazi in me gets upset when people don’t use it. English's subjunctive is syntactic, not inflected via another new verb tense as in other languages. E.g. If he *was* a better student, he’d do better on his exams. (Incorrect use of simple past.) If he *were* a better student, he’d do better on his exams. (Correct use of subjunctive.) The phrase is a hypothetical or an opinion (or hearsay), not a statement of fact, so it should use the subjunctive.

[@VCMD]

saw this in grammar book before

[@raykent3211]

Is there any difference between subjunctive and conditional? In the phrase "soyez le bienvenu" thére is no condition, it's subjunctive, but in the phrase "if I were you..." it's conditional. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think "if I were you" translates into french as "si j'étais toi". Is that simple past, conditional past or subjunctive past? God help me, I don't even know my mother tongue.

[@bernardcrepin886]

@@raykent3211 "Soyez le bienvenu" is not a subjunctive but a imperative 😬...

[@raykent3211]

@@bernardcrepin886 oh feck, I forgot about the imperative!

[@TheSirmousavi]

Your examples are conditional though not subjunctive

[@Ar_nh]

I mean the subjonctif case is a good example showing that your native language may have a profound impact on learning other languages, when I came across the conjugation system in french for the very first time and found out about the verb moods like subjonctif instead of having modal verbs like that of the english, I was horrified!!!! because I had already had a difficult time learning modal verbs in english ; But then I realized the french version is exaaaactly the same in my native language! and I didn't go through the difficulties I had with english; so for all you english folks out there , sometimes it's not your fault if you can't fully grasp something about your target language it just might be the fault of your native language , you just need some time to adapt to a new form of linguistic expression , It'll take sometime but you'll get there😊

[@jeanjacques9980]

Marvellous explanation but my brain is still spinning.

[@hbourgeois1]

What is the past subjonctif of the verb savoir?

[@gagapa76]

Lol

[@rebeccamcfarlin8199]

Salut. Je suis une débutante en français. Quelle est la différence entre >

[@madelainepetrin1430]

Le premier veut dire aller qq part, l'autre est son opposé, veut dire partir de qq part.

[@rebeccamcfarlin8199]

@@madelainepetrin1430 Merci beaucoup! je pense que je comprend ça.

[@yorkhunt1251]

4 sur 4.

[@clammerify]

simple - subjunctive is what OUGHT to be in your opinion and NOT what actually in fact IS. I ought to be a better person or It is important that I BE there. These are not facts they are just desires so they are subjunctive. One of the problems when teaching the french subjunctive is that most teachers do not speak native English and don’t know the ins and outs of the English language and that the subjunctive exists in english.

[@lohphat]

Pourquoi il n’a pas élision entre « tu ailles » par example «t’ailles»?

[@RosyidHDimas]

J'avais cette question. Mais je pense que c'est pour différencier entre le sujet et le pronoms COD ou COI

[@lohphat]

@@RosyidHDimas Mais on dit "T'as faim?" toujours.

[@WoodyGamesUK]

On peut dire "t'ailles", si on parle vite. Mais c'est du français parlé, l'élisions sur le "u" n'est pas correcte mais est couramment utilisée a l'oral.

[@bernardcrepin886]

@@lohphat yes in oral language, but you would not write that. The right form is "tu as faim ?", or even better "as-tu faim ?"

[@spencergee6948]

I suggest that what you fail to explain is that the subjunctive is about probability. 'He wants me to be there at 5pm'. I might not be. Its probable that I might not be. etc.

[@rowyourboat366]

Louise Attaque "Je voudrais que tu te ramènes devant Que tu sois là de temps en temps Et je voudrais que tu te rappelles Notre amour est éternel Et pas artificiel"

[@remoraexocet]

se ramener devant... comment dire...

[@gaelfaun2459]

Bien joué.

[@bridgetleonard6702]

I really like this video but I don't think my university professors would agree that learning the subjuntive is not a good use of my time.

[@madelainepetrin1430]

Double negatives! You had me going here. Yes subjunctive verbs are important, nothing irritates me more than it's non use, especially with common verbs from French speakers. If you have an accent you're forgiven.🙂

[@tonyjohn4203]

Bonjour mon ange, je suis content de te voir ici 🤝 C'est vraiment 🌷🌹🙏. Vous avez une très belle collection de photos. Je crois que vous êtes une femme gentille et sincère. Mon nom est Tony! Je veux être votre ami, veuillez m'ajouter sur WhatsApp, [phone]

[@fernandes.ricardo]

Welcome to Portuguese, where you have THREE widely used subjunctive tenses. hahaha (Spanish has also three, but only two are practically used.)

[@Bloperu]

Spanish has six in total, but I would say that at least in european spanish “only” four subjuntive tenses are used (and two of them have two different versions). Only the futures are rarely used.

[@fernandes.ricardo]

@@Bloperu I did not count the composed tenses, as such phenomenon also occurs quite often both in French and in Portuguese. The only difference is that they are formally considered independent tenses in Spanish, whereas in the other two languages they are just not listed as such (as it basically works by conjugating the verb haber - or avoir and être in French or haver and ter in Portuguese). So in the end it doesn’t add any extra cherry on the Spanish pie, sorry. haha

[@slicksalmon6948]

Languages aren’t invented, they evolve. So, it’s interesting to wonder why the subjunctive evolved. What were people trying to say with the subjunctive that they couldn’t adequately express with the indicative? Whatever it was, English speakers never felt the same need. While the subjunctive exists in English, it doesn’t function the same way, and it has no particular use other than to convey a sense of erudition on the part of the speaker. Perhaps the same is true in French.

[@dyutide]

She reminds me of Anne Hathaway

[@wayne_xyz]

Jusqu’à ce que je le désactive

[@malardjm]

Je ne savais pas que la grammaire puisse me faire rire.

[@hamfish225]

Oh wow please someone ELI5 what is a subjunctive this is the first time I’ve heard this word xD i am confusion

[@staratlas5826]

En français c’est ‘subjonctif’. It’s one of the 4 major tenses of French verbs.

[@robman2095]

Verbs have both tense and mood. The subjonctif (subjunctive) is a mood not a tense. You need to look at a french verb conjugation table and you will see both mood and tense verb conjugations grouped first by mood and then within each mood you will see the conjugations for the various applicable tenses.

[@bompykaushal9340]

Salut madame! Voici quelques exemples: Espérons qu'il ne leur soit rien arrivé! On espère qu'il ne leur est rien arrivé! J'espère qu'il ne lui arrivera rien. N'espère pas qu'elle aille te dire la vérité! Je n'espère pas que la princesse me dise le nom de son galant(amant)! Le noble a dit avec un profond soupir! Je ne crois qu'il sache parler français! Reste-ici jusqu'à ta maman (ne) soit de retour! Je vous en remercie! Au revoir!

[@gagapa76]

"Je ne crois pas* qu'il sache parler français"

[@bilahn1198]

English is difficult in many respects, but not with basic grammar. It is so much simpler. The verb conjugations in the romance languages are just a nightmare.

[@bilahn1198]

@@jazmine9570 The subjunctive in English is trivial! And, while there are many irregular forms of verbs, for example, " swim swam swum", they are all conjugated in exactly the same way as a regular verb. And other than adding an s in the third person singular nothing changes. If you can learn the word "will" you've learned the future tense! But spelling, pronunciation, vocabulary and getting to an advanced level is quite challenging.

[@malekmestiri9715]

French people don't care if you misuse the subjonctif, but Tunisian people do. Sad