French Grammar in Context

The subjunctive (present and perfect) 175

g Note also the construction que+ subjunctive... ou(whether... or)
Qu’il nous réponde ou non, cela m’est égalWhether he replies or not, it’s all the same to me
Qu’ils viennent ou qu’ils ne viennent pas, je leur téléphonerai demainWhether they come or
not, I’ll phone them tomorrow

2 FORMATION

There are three more verbs with irregular stems to be noted.
aller: aille, ailles, aille, ALLIONS, ALLIEZ, aillent
pleuvoir: il pleuve
valoir: vaille, vailles, vaille, VALIONS, VALIEZ, vaillent
It should be noted that allerand valoironly have an irregular stem in the je, tu, iland ilsforms.
In this respect they behave like vouloir(see The present subjunctive in the text, 3c,above).

3 USE OF TENSES

It is only in very careful written French that you are likely to encounter or need to use the
imperfect and pluperfect subjunctives. See Chapter 27 for more information on these. Elsewhere
the present subjunctive (or perfect subjunctive to refer to prior events – see below) should be
used.

Note
Most subordinate clauses introduced by quedo not take the subjunctive. Do not be tempted to
use the subjunctive after conjunctions of time such as alors que, pendant que, after causative
conjunctions such as parce que, puisque, or after positive statements of fact such as il est évident
que, il dit/pense que.

See for further information: Coffman Crocker, pp. 195–213
Ferrar, pp. 50, 92–9
Hawkins and Towell, pp. 162, 257–74
Judge and Healey, pp. 131–53, 221
L’Huillier, pp. 153–9, 162–82
Price, pp. 363–82
Turk and Vandaele, pp. 216–19, 221–50

EXERCISES

1 Complete the following sentences in six different ways, supplying in turn the present
subjunctive form of each verb listed.
a Il faut que tu __ (réfléchir; partir; s’en aller; recommencer; boire; se lever).
b Elle veut que nous (sortir; finir; chanter; faire un effort; apprendre ce poème;
s’en aller).