Rémy (débutant sans micro)

[proud relic]

Please be patient

Our volunteers look into many questions every day; sometimes it takes them a little while to answer.

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Make it descriptive, including relevant context, but also to the point. This way you improve your chances of getting a more relevant and specific answer.

[brisk sand]

In the vast majority of its cases, the subjunctive is something that has to be triggered; it cannot be used according to your will. For example, the reason why « souhaiter que » is followed by the subjunctive but « espérer que » isn’t is because the former triggers the subjunctive and the latter doesn’t. We can rationalise it all we want but the fact of the matter is that the subjunctive rests primarily on grammar.

« ne pas dire que », as far as I know, does not trigger the subjunctive so no, no subjunctive is possible here.

[hot frost]

lève-toi les mains => lève les mains

[naive turret]

Thank you !!

[brisk sand]

I forgot to add this: There are, AFAIK, two situations where the subjunctive and indicative are both used with a meaning change depending on which is used.

(1) Superlatives
« C’est la plus grande église que Matthieu ait vue/a vue »
Here, the meaning change impacts the superlative « la plus grande (the largest) ». Using the subjunctive would mean that you are unsure/exaggerating for certain purposes; for example, you might be implying that the church is incredibly huge but you’re either exaggerating simply because it’s so big or you’re unsure if it’s actually the biggest church ever. Using the indicative would mean that you are very sure of your opinion; for example, you might be implying that it actually is the largest church among every other churches you’ve seen, like definitely.
Addendum: This also applies to ‘limiting’ adjectives which indicate a sort of specialness. Think « le seul (the only), le dernier (the last), le premier (the first), etc ».

(2) Existence of something
« Je cherche quelqu’un qui puisse/peut m’aider. »
Here, the meaning change is with « quelqu’un (someone) ». With the subjunctive, you are unsure whether or not the person exists or not whereas with the indicative, you are entirely sure that that person exists. Using the subjunctive here would imply that your request is big and/or vague enough to warrant doubt that anyone can help you whereas the indicative would imply that you do know someone there that could help you. For example, if you found someone unconscious, you might use the subjunctive in a hotel (because staff may or may not be trained in CPR) but at a hospital, you’d use the indicative (because you know doctors are there and they know CPR).