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The Subjunctive :/

Hey, I have my French oral mock next week and I'm really pushing for the highest grades - our teacher hasn't had much time to properly teach us the subjunctive but I need to use it for those grade 8s and 9s. Does anyone have any good subjunctive phrases I can use? I don't mean just "je doute que" but actual full sentences or phrases with it because I'm unsure how to follow a sentence on when using a subjunctive trigger at the moment.

Thanks, Anna :smile:
Original post by Anna banana :)
Hey, I have my French oral mock next week and I'm really pushing for the highest grades - our teacher hasn't had much time to properly teach us the subjunctive but I need to use it for those grade 8s and 9s. Does anyone have any good subjunctive phrases I can use? I don't mean just "je doute que" but actual full sentences or phrases with it because I'm unsure how to follow a sentence on when using a subjunctive trigger at the moment.

Thanks, Anna :smile:


I started to answer this earlier, but my browser crashed.

So, subjunctive. Loads of uses, but mainly - as you no doubt know - to express doubt, reservations etc.

Always used in the following examples..

'pourvu que ....' Almost only phrase this is used in is ... 'pourvu que ça continue!' ('long may that continue!)
'avant que + ne' ('before...') --> je l'ai appelée avant qu'elle ne parte..'
'douter que ...' ('doubt that...') --> 'je doute qu'il soit d'accord'
'craindre que + ne...' ('to fear that...') --> 'je crains qu'il ne soit trop tard'!'
'vouloir que...' ('to want that...') --> 'je veux qu'il sache!')
'bien que ...' ('despite ...') --> 'bien que le premier ministre veuille ...'
condition que ...' ('on condition that...' --> 'elle t'aidera à condition que tu sois gentille avec elle..'

And so on.

There are many other examples. But the above should get you some brownie points at your oral exam.

Don't forget the 'ne' in 'craindre que' and in 'avant que'. They are not optional (although they can missed in rapid, colloquial speech)

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