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Tense / Aspect / Mood / Voice

irregular subjunctive formation

The subjunctive is one of four moods in French (indicative, imperative, subjunctive and conditional). A mood is a grammatical term which helps categorize verb tenses. The subjunctive is used more frequently in French than in English. One important use of the subjunctive is after the expression il faut que, indicating necessity. The subjunctive also expresses a feeling or emotion such as a wish, hope, or doubt.

For most verbs, the subjunctive mood is formed by dropping the -ent ending from the third person plural of the present indicative and adding the endings: -e-es-e-ions-iez-ent. This is known as the regular formation of the subjunctive.

verbs with two stems

There are several categories of irregular subjunctive formations. The first of these categories concerns verbs with two stems in the subjunctive. These verbs have a similar two-stem irregularity in the present indicative (for example, ‘ils viennent’ BUT ‘nous venons’). The boot stem (for the forms je, tu, il / elle, ils / elles) is the third person plural of the present indicative, the very same as the stem for regular formation of the subjunctive. The first person plural of the present indicative provides the second stem for the ‘nous’ and ‘vous’ forms of the subjunctive. The regular subjunctive endings are added to these two stems.


venir  ‘to come’
que je vienne que nous venions
que tu viennes que vous veniez
qu’il / elle / on vienne qu’ils / elles viennent

In addition to venir, here is a list of the most frequent verbs with two stems in the subjunctive:

infinitive boot stem, for:
je, tu, il/elle/on, ils/elles
2nd stem, for:
nous, vous
aller (to go) que j’aille que nous allions
boire (to drink) que je boive que nous buvions
croire (to believe) que je croie que nous croyions
devoir (to have to) que je doive que nous devions
mourir (to die) que je meure que nous mourions
prendre (to take) que je prenne que nous prenions
recevoir (to receive) que je reçoive que nous recevions
tenir (to hold) que je tienne que nous tenions
voir (to see) que je voie que nous voyions
vouloir (to want) que je veuille que nous voulions

irregular verbs: avoir and être

Avoir and être are highly irregular in the subjunctive and must be memorized. Note that the ‘nous’ and ‘vous’ forms are spelled with the letter y (instead of the i characteristic of the regular subjunctive endings). Note in particular the pronunciation of the subjunctive forms of avoir, which have the same vowel sound as found in j’ai (I have), the first person singular in the present indicative.

avoir  ‘to have’
que j’aie que nous ayons
que tu aies que vous ayez
qu’il / elle / on ait qu’ils / elles aient
être  ‘to be’
que je sois que nous soyons
que tu sois que vous soyez
qu’il / elle / on soit qu’ils / elles soient

Note the similarity of the subjunctive forms of the verbs être and avoir to their respective imperative forms.

irregular verbs: faire, savoir, pouvoir

The verbs fairesavoir and pouvoir have completely irregular stems. The endings, however, are regular.

faire  ‘to do’
que je fasse que nous fassions
que tu fasses que vous fassiez
qu’il / elle / on fasse qu’ils / elles fassent

infinitive first person present subjunctive
savoir (to know) que je sache
pouvoir (to be able) que je puisse

Note the similarity between the subjunctive and imperative forms of the verb savoir. Listen to the dialogue:

Paw-Paw donne des conseils à son petit-fils, Tex. Paw-Paw is giving advice to his grandson Tex.
Paw-Paw: Tex, mon cher, il faut que tu saches que la vie est courte. Tammy est une tatou formidable. Tu ne vas pas trouver une meilleure femme. Il ne faut pas que Tammy et toi ayez peur de vous marier. Dépêchez-vous! Comme je l’ai dit . . . la vie est courte. Moi, je veux seulement que vous soyez heureux. Et une autre chose: après votre mariage, il faut que vous veniez me voir. Je suis tout seul en Louisiane et la famille me manque. Il faut que nous fassions plus de choses ensemble. Il faut que j’aie plus de compagnie. Paw-Paw: Tex, my dear, you have to know that life is short. Tammy is a fabulous armadillo. You are not going to find a better wife. You and Tammy must not be afraid to get married. Hurry up! As I said . . . life is short. As for me, I only want you to be happy. And another thing. After your marriage, you must come see me. I am all alone in Louisiana and I miss my family. We have to do more things together. I’ve got to have more company.

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Tex’s French Grammar Copyright © by Carl Blyth is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.