Introduction

The subjunctive is a mood which is very frequently used in everyday French. It is a non-temporal mood. Temporality is indicated by the context.

Ex: Je veux que tout soit prêt pour demain.

J'aurais voulu que tout soit prêt hier.

In common usage, only two tenses are used: present and perfect. In formal usage, the four tenses are used: present, perfect, imperfect and pluperfect (see table in 3.2.2 below).

The subjunctive is mainly used in subordinate clauses (although it also survives in independent clauses and in some fixed expressions). The subordinate clauses concerned are: que-clauses (complétives), adverbial clauses (circonstancielles) and relative clauses. In each case, it is important to know whether the subjunctive OR the indicative should be used.

1. – In que-clauses (introduced by the conjunction que), the use of the subjunctive depends on what is expressed by the verb or impersonal construction in the main clause.

2. – In adverbial clauses (introduced by a conjunction other than que), the use of the subjunctive depends on the conjunction used.

3. – In relative clauses, a modifier of the antecedent (e.g. definite or indefinite article, type of adjective) may determine the choice between subjunctive and indicative.

Indicative and subjunctive moods are traditionally distinguished in the following way:

1. – the indicative is used to express processes that are actual or real

2. – the subjunctive is used to express processes that are virtual or imagined.