11-T3722
5/1/06
11:16 AM
Page 141
P R E S E N T A N D PA S T S U B J U N C T I V E
141
For all three classes of verbs, the first and second person plurals always have identical present subjunctives and imperfect indicatives: Class I parler
Class II finir
Class III rendre
nous parlions vous parliez
nous finissions vous finissiez
nous rendions vous rendiez
As a result, it is often difficult to distinguish precisely when a subjunctive is being used. In the following examples, the verbs in (1a) and (1b) look identical, but one is subjunctive while the other is not; the same holds for (2a) and (2b): (1a) (1b)
subjunctive present indicative
Je veux qu’il chante. Je vois qu’il chante.
“I want him to sing.” “I see that he sings.”
(2a) (2b)
subjunctive imperfect indicative
Je voulais que vous chantiez. Je voyais que vous chantiez.
“I wanted you to sing.” “I saw that you were singing.”
The fact that most subjunctives in French go unnoticed has certainly been an important factor contributing to the subjunctive’s relative marginalization compared to its use in other Romance languages.3
The Ne Explétif This is a ne which can be added to certain categories of subjunctive phrases and which has no negative meaning—in fact it has no meaning whatsoever. Thus the two sentences Je crains qu’il vienne.
Je crains qu’il ne vienne.
}
“I fear that he will come.”
are absolutely identical in meaning and are both to be distinguished from: Je crains qu’il ne vienne pas.
“I fear that he will not come.”
The ne explétif is never obligatory and is frequently omitted, particularly in spoken French. In our examples of the subjunctive we will include the ne explétif 3 Recall that Class I verbs—all of whose subjunctive forms are easily confused with indicative ones—account for nearly 90 percent of French verbs.