The Imperfect Subjunctive in French

The Subjunctive in French

The subjonctif(subjunctive) is a mode(mood) used to talk about wishes, desires, necessity, emotions, opinions, uncertainty, and possibility. The subjunctive in French commonly shows up in subordinate clauses starting with que(that), but can also be used with other conjunctions that indicate goals, consequences, fear, restrictions, and time. We'll see that the imparfait du subjonctif(imperfect subjunctive), as a literary tense, can also be used to express a hypothetical situation in the present.

The Imperfect Subjunctive in French

The imparfait du subjonctif is often called a literary tense because it's reserved for written French. It’s becoming much less common in contemporary French literature, but you will inevitably encounter it if you read nineteenth-century authors such as Honoré de Balzac and Émile Zola, or twentieth-century authors like Marcel Proust and Simone de Beauvoir. You may also find it in historical documents. Because the imperfect subjunctive is a rather old-fashioned literary tense, it's a bit unlikely that you'll need to produce it yourself, but you should be able to recognize and understand its uses, as you're sure to come across it in literature.

Simultaneity or Posterity

As a past tense, the imperfect subjunctive is often paired with a main clause in the past tense, either the passé simple(past historic), another literary tense reserved for classical, written French, or the imparfait de l'indicatif(imperfect indicative). The imperfect subjunctive is used to express an action that occurs at the same time or after the action in the main clause.

Hypothetical Situations in the Present

The imperfect subjunctive can be also be used to express a hypothetical situation in the present.

• The clause containing the imperfect subjunctive corresponds to a subordinate clause introduced by si(if) or même si(even if).
• The subject is usually a subject pronoun, ce(it), or on(one, we), and the subject and verb are inverted.

It's important to note that this use of the imperfect subjunctive sounds quite archaic today.

Recognizing Verbs in the Imperfect Subjunctive in French

Regular verbs in the imperfect subjunctive follow two different patterns:

• -er verbs follow one pattern
• -ir and -re verbs follow another pattern.

We'll take a look at these two regular patterns, as well as irregular verbs.

Regular -ER Verbs in the Imperfect Subjunctive

For regular verbs in the imperfect subjunctive, the infinitive ending is removed (in this case, the -er) and replaced with the following endings:

Endings for -ER Verbs in the Imperfect Subjunctive

Here's what the verbs donner(to give) and parler(to speak) look like in the imperfect subjunctive:

Donner and Parler in the Imperfect Subjunctive

Regular -IR and -RE Verbs in the Imperfect Subjunctive

For regular -ir and -re verbs, the infinitive ending is removed and replaced with the following endings:

Endings for Regular -IR and -RE Verbs in the Imperfect Subjunctive

The -ir verb choisir(to choose) and the -re verb attendre(to wait) have the following conjugations:

Choisir and Attendre in the Imperfect Subjunctive

Irregular -IR and -RE Verbs

Some -ir and -re verbs are irregular in the imperfect subjunctive. This means you can't simply remove the final -ir or -re of the infinitive and replace it with the endings given in the section above. Irregular verbs have a stem that ends in either an -i-, a -u-, or more rarely, an -in-. Here are some irregular verbs and their stems:

Irregular Verbs with Stems Ending in an I

Irregular Verbs with Stems Ending in a U

Irregular Verbs with Stems Ending in an IN

No matter the stem ending, the following endings are applied:

Irregular Endings for -IR and -RE Verbs in the Imperfect Subjunctive

Let's take a look at the irregular conjugations for faire, être, and venir.

Faire, Être, and Venir in the Imperfect Subjunctive

You shouldn't stress over trying to produce the imperfect subjunctive since you won't need it to be an advanced speaker of French, but you'll be proud of yourself when you can recognize it in classical French literature!