#Phônsaùr correct pls)
brazen yarrow
vast mulch
stoic copper
Except when sarkozy does it fr
small sandal
Historically it was used when talking about the past.
Nowadays we’d say for example “il fallait que je fasse attention” (I had to be careful) with the present subjunctive.
But in older French the correct form would have been “il fallait que je fisse attention” in the imparfait du subjonctif.
I had to look up the conjugation of the verb “faire” to write that sentence btw, I don’t know how to conjugate it in the imparfait du subjonctif.
That’s how unused it is
proud citrus
at most it's good to be able to recognize it and understand in what contexts it's possible
meager estuary
When would it even be used?
Just to add on for Kitties’ point, the subjunctive’s sequence of tenses is a bit different compared to others. The subjunctive’s tenses depend on whether it happened during/after the main clause OR before the main clause.
« J’ai peur que Céline parte. »
–> The subjunctive present here implies that, at the moment of speaking or the point of reference of the main clause, Céline hasn’t yet left but that there’s a fear of us seeing her leave. Maybe we threw a party for her but she didn’t like it.
« J’ai peur que Céline soit partie. »
–> The subjunctive past here implies that, at the moment of speaking or the point of reference of the main clause, Céline has already left and there’s a fear of us thinking she already did. Maybe there was a sudden meeting and she had already gone home.
In Modern French, the tense system only involves these two; it doesn’t matter what the main clause’s tense is, what only matters is whether the subordinate clause has already happened or not, so if I used the imperfect in the main clause, still the same thing:
« J’avais peur que Céline parte. »
« J’avais peur que Céline soit partie. »
In literary French – which is basically old French like 1700s, 1800s French – there’s another set of subjunctive tenses: the imperfect and pluperfect. It works exactly the same way as the present and past but with a caveat: The imperfect/pluperfect is used when the main clause is in the past. So, using the example above:
« J’avais peur que Céline partît. »
« J’avais peur que Céline fût partie. »
TL;DR
Modern French
(1) What is the relationship between the subordinate subjunctive and the main clause?
(1a) Subordinate clause hasn’t happened yet = Present
(1b) Subordinate clause has already happened = Past
Literary French
(1) What is the main clause of the sentence?
(1a) Present or future tense: Go to (2)
(1b) Past tense: Go to (3)
(2) What is the relationship between the subordinate subjunctive and the main clause?
(2a) Subordinate clause hasn’t happened yet = Present
(2b) Subordinate clause has already happened = Past
(3) What is the relationship between the subordinate subjunctive and the main clause?
(3a) Subordinate clause hasn’t happened yet = Imperfect
(3b) Subordinate clause has already happened = Pluperfect
meager estuary
Did you learn the imperfect of subjunctive??
I did but only with usage; for conjugation it's not worth the trouble
median pivot
for litterary french (1b) conditional also triggers imperfect/pqp
Il faudrait sur-le-champ que je me l'amputasse !
somewhat famous quote from Cyrano de Bergerac
tbf once you get rhe conjugation it's pretty simple
you take the 3rd p. sg past simple form minus the t if it's with i/u, then it's just
-sse
-sses
-^t
-ssions
-ssiez
-ssent
If you know the past simple form it shouldn't be a problem, but yeah, if
kind of a shame it died
people nowadays mostly say it sounds stupid without really realizing it's still used for 2nd group verbs in the present subjunctive form
que je finisse
so go figure
with the difference that third person sg is finisse and not finît
meager estuary
for litterary french (1b) conditional also triggers imperfect/pqp
Oh yes, this, because the conditional often has a future-in-the-past value. Notice how the futur simple and futur antérieur become conditionnel présent and conditionnel passé when in past indirect speech.
« Céline : Je partirai une fois que j’aurai fini mon travail. »
« Céline a dit qu’elle partirait une fois que j’aurais fini mon travail. »
meager estuary
If you know the past simple form it shouldn't be a problem, but yeah, if
Which is the big hurdle for most people whose worry is just recognising it, and not using it
meager estuary
people nowadays mostly say it sounds stupid without really realizing it's still ...
No? « finir », like most verbs in the second conjugation, has its subjunctive form derived from the plural third.
« Ils finissent -> finiss-
=> que je finisse, que tu finisses, qu’il finisse, etc »
median pivot
I just meant it sounds the exact same, not that it necessarily came from it
the -sse ending
meager estuary
Sure but that's just for regular -ir so you know, not very applicable
median pivot
not applicable ?
I am just saying people who say imperfect subjunctive sounds weird when hearing stuff like "fisse" all the while having no problems saying finisse show the problem is just them not being used to it and not the tense itself
I don't see how it's not a valid comparaison, they literally have the same endings aside from 3rd p singluar
meager estuary
My point is that it's only applicable for -ir because they just happen to share the same stem. People hear « ils partent » all the time so the subjunctive present « que je parte, que tu partes, qu'il parte, etc » sounds fine, but because they don't hear « il partit » all the time, the subjunctive imperfect « que je partisse, que tu partisses, qu'il partît, etc » sounds weird
If they thought « -sse » was weird, they wouldn't use « que je fasse, que tu fasses, qu'il fasse »
median pivot
I mean it is what I'm saying ? that the people who think imperfect subjunctive sounds weird probably don't realize other verbs are built almost the same for the present form and it's just them not being used to it