Useful French Phrases (for essay writing use)

There is no reason why the subjunctive should be avoided in spoken French - to do so would result in gramatically incorrect French. Having said that, overusing it is equally bad.

I think that perhaps you are confusing the subjunctive with the passé simple which is only used for written French but is never used when speaking...

Sorry I made a mistake when saying that "Subjonctive isn't really used in informal spoken English" I meant french not english, my mistake. Yeah you're right eleri we do use Il faut que je fasse quite freqently. However, what is reserved to formal french is to start a sentence with a subjontive ex: Que je sois.... No student would say that for example. But it's fine for essays of course.

Passé simple? Right, this nasty little time also exists...To be honest, I even struggle to tell you the infinitive of a verb in passé simple, not to talk about using it myself.

But the formulaic ones like "Il faut...", "Bien que", etc are just plain necessary for anyone who will be doing interviews.

Réfléchissons d’abord à
Il s’agit de
D’autres critiques portent sur
Un avant-goût de ce qui pourrait survenir
Poser un problème crucial
La question est de savoir
Cela peut s’expliquer par plusieurs facteurs
Proposer une piste de réflexion
Il faut s’interroger sur le sens de
Il convient de se demander

On peut constater que
Souligner l’importance de
Le plus frappant ici est
Il est à noter que
Il faut tenir compte du fait que
Il faut insister sur le fait que
Il y a de fortes chances que (+ subj)
Cela me paraît évident que

Cela me conduit à penser
Il ne faut pas s’étonner que (+subj)
Cela saute aux yeux
Il va de soi que
Il nous permet d’avoir
Il nous donne une idée
Il nous fait voir
Se trouve dans le scénario où
La scène dans laquelle
Cela signifie que

Tenant pour acquis que
Étant donné que
Vu que

En raison de
Il s’avère que
À en juger par
En/de plus
En addition
A cela s’ajoute

Pourtant
Cependant
Néanmoins

Par contre
A l’inverse
En revanche

En matière de
En ce qui concerne
A l’égard de
Il est possible que + subj.
Un aperçu
D’avoir quitté
Sans doute
Le déroulement
Après avoir
Cela suggère que

Bien que + subj.
Après que + subj.
Prepositions (sans + inf.)
Adverbs
Si clause
Passive
Rhetorical questions
Ne sont que (other negatives)

Now there's a list!
Admittedly, some are stolen from Mot à Mot. But they are a list of things that I have got marks for in practice cwk essays. We get ticks for register and manipulation which is how the cwk is marked and these are things that have got a tick with either 'R' or 'M' written next to them (for manipulation or register)

before this list is copied and pasted into a word document and then printed so i can carry it everywhere i go hehe slight exaggeration but you get the gist, i'm fairly sure (positive) that 'après que' is not followed by the subjunctive, so it's something less to worry about! it's a point of grammar than even the french make as an error! 'avant que' however is!

Subjunctive isn't really used in informal spoken French....It's the trade mark of a more, formal french.

We've always been told apres que (sorry, I know the accent is missing!) is followed by subjunctive... Both my French teachers (one is French, and other lived in France for about 5 years) and our French assistant have said apres que is followed by subjunctive...



Again, we've been told subjunctive isn't really that formal, and is used in general conversation... Even if it isn't, at least in the speaking exam I would use it anyway (if needed!) because otherwise the examiner might think you don't know that you need subjunctive and mark you down....

i'm fairly sure (positive) that 'après que' is not followed by the subjunctive, so it's something less to worry about! it's a point of grammar than even the french make as an error! 'avant que' however is!

it is followed by the subjunctive

it isn't.

'Je le ferai après qu'il partira'.


avant que, is, however.