French Grammar: Negation, Conditional, Subjunctive
French Negation
Pas de tout: Not at all
Pas Question: Not a chance
Absolument pas: Absolutely not
Moi Pas: Not me
Ce Pas: Not this
Pas encore: Not yet
Toujours pas: Still not
Rien: Nothing
Jamais: Never
Plus: More
Pas Plus: Not anymore
Personne: Nobody
Nulle Part: Nowhere
Que: Only
Aucun(e): None
Ne … Ni … Ni …: Neither … Nor …
Conditional Sentences in French
Conditional sentences express what would happen if a certain condition were met.
- Possible: Si + Present + Present / Future / Imperative
- Improbable: Si + Imperfect + Conditional Present
- Unreal (Past): Si + Pluperfect + Conditional Past
L’Imparfait (Imperfect Tense)
Formed by taking the 1st person plural (Nous) form of the present tense, removing the -ons, and adding the endings: -ions, -iez, -ais, -ais, -ait, -aient.
Exception: être (to be): Vous êtes.
Le Plus-Que-Parfait (Pluperfect Tense)
Formed with the auxiliary verb (avoir or être) in the imperfect tense + past participle.
Example: J’étais allé à Paris la semaine dernière, j’avais réservé l’hôtel il y a 1 mois. (I went to Paris last week; I had booked the hotel 1 month ago.)
Indicates an action that occurred prior to another past action.
Le Subjonctif (Subjunctive Mood)
Used to express subjective reality, doubt, emotion, necessity, etc.
Formation: 3rd person plural (ils/elles) present tense stem + endings: -e, -es, -e, -ions, -iez, -ent.
Common irregular verbs in the subjunctive:
- Être (to be): sois, sois, soit, soyons, soyez, soient
- Avoir (to have): aie, aies, ait, ayons, ayez, aient
- Aller (to go): aille, ailles, aille, allions, alliez, aillent
- Faire (to do): fasse, fasses, fasse, fassions, fassiez, fassent
- Savoir (to know): sache, saches, sache, sachions, sachiez, sachent
- Pouvoir (to be able): puisse, puisses, puisse, puissions, puissiez, puissent
- Vouloir (to want): veuille, veuilles, veuille, voulions, vouliez, veuillent
Il faut + infinitive expresses necessity. The subjunctive is used after “Il faut que…” (e.g., Il faut manger -> Il faut que vous mangiez.)
Le Conditionnel (Conditional Mood)
Conditional Present
Formed using the future stem + imperfect endings: -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient.
Regular verbs: -er, -ir, -re + endings.
Irregular verb stems:
- Être: ser-
- Avoir: aur-
- Aller: ir-
- Faire: fer-
- Pouvoir: pourr-
- Vouloir: voudr-
- Devoir: devr-
- Venir: viendr-
- Voir: verr-
- Falloir: faudr-
- Savoir: saur-
Uses:
- Make a polite request
- Express a wish
- Give advice
- Describe unlikely scenarios
- Explain something imaginary
- Make a proposal
Conditional Past
Formed with the auxiliary verb (avoir or être) in the conditional present + past participle.
Past participle endings: -er -> é, -ir -> i, -re -> u, -oir -> u
Uses:
- Express regret
- Express a reproach
- Explain a hypothetical result in the past
- Describe an impossible scenario in the past
Conditional Sentence Structure Summary:
- Present + Present/Future/Imperative
- Imperfect + Conditional Present
- Pluperfect + Conditional Past
Examples:
A) When there is some probability that the main action is performed (Present + Future):
| Si j’étudie, je réussirai les examens. | If I study, I will pass the exams. |
| S’il est ici, il viendra avec nous. | If he is here, he will come with us. |
B) When the chances that the main action takes place are very small (Imperfect + Conditional Present):
| Si j’étudiais, je réussirais les examens. | If I studied, I would pass the exams. |
| S’il était ici, il viendrait avec nous. | If he were here, he would come with us. |
C) When there is NO chance that the main action takes place (Pluperfect + Conditional Past):
| Si j’avais étudié, j’aurais réussi les examens. | If I had studied, I would have passed the exams. |
| S’il avait été ici, il serait venu avec nous. | If he had been here, he would have come with us. |