Parcours B2: Subjonctif et Syntaxe Avancée

Who this path is for

You have finished Parcours B1 — or its equivalent — and you can hold a real conversation across four past tenses, use the subjunctive after the core triggers, and build all three types of si-clause. You can express almost any idea, although sometimes clumsily. B2 is the level where you stop sounding like an advanced learner and start sounding like an articulate French speaker.

The B2 leap is less about new tenses (you already have most of them) and more about structural sophistication — clefting, dislocation, the passive, the faire-causative, the full subjunctive trigger set, and conscious control of register. These are the structures that let you weight information, focus attention, and shift register on purpose. They are also what make French sound French rather than English-with-French-words. Plan for six months to a year.

Phase 1 — The full subjunctive trigger set

B1 introduced the core subjunctive triggers (il faut que, desire, emotion, doubt, bien que, pour que, avant que). B2 consolidates the full list and the harder cases.

1. Trigger: Condition Conjunctions

À condition que, pourvu que, à moins que, pour peu que: conditional conjunctions that all take the subjunctive. Je viendrai à condition qu'il fasse beau (I'll come provided the weather's nice).

2. Trigger: Other Conjunctions

Sans que, de peur que, de crainte que, non que, soit que... soit que...: the long tail of subjunctive conjunctions. Less frequent, but you will meet them in journalism and literature.

3. Trigger: Superlative + Relative

After a superlative or restrictive expression in a relative clause: c'est le meilleur film que j'aie vu (it's the best film I've seen). Also after le seul/la seule/l'unique... qui: le seul ami qui me comprenne. This signals that the claim is filtered through your judgment, not a fact about the world.

4. Trigger: Impersonal Judgment

Il est normal que, il est important que, il est étrange que, il est dommage que, c'est bizarre que: any impersonal expression of judgment or evaluation takes the subjunctive. Il est normal qu'il soit fatigué (it's normal he's tired). Note the contrast: il est clair que and il est évident que take the indicative because they assert certainty, not judgment.

5. Subjonctif in Relative Clauses

The subjunctive appears in relative clauses when the antecedent is hypothetical, sought-after, or restricted. Je cherche quelqu'un qui sache parler chinois (I'm looking for someone who can speak Chinese — hypothetical) vs je connais quelqu'un qui sait parler chinois (I know someone who can speak Chinese — real).

6. Subjonctif Passé

When the event is in the subjunctive and completed before the main clause: je suis content que tu sois venu (I'm glad you came). Built with avoir or être in the present subjunctive + past participle.

7. Sequence of Tenses with the Subjunctive

When the main clause is in the past and the subjunctive clause is contemporaneous, modern spoken French keeps the subjonctif présent: je voulais qu'il vienne (I wanted him to come — not "to have come"). The strict literary rule would use the subjonctif imparfait, but that is C1+ territory.

8. Ne Explétif

A ne that looks negative but is not — it appears in formal French after certain triggers (avant que, à moins que, de peur que, comparisons of inequality): avant qu'il ne parte, plus grand que je ne pensais. Optional in modern usage, but you must recognise it in writing.

Phase 2 — Passive constructions

French uses the passive less than English, and where it does use one, it often prefers structural alternatives. Knowing all three options — true passive, pronominal passive, and on-construction — is what makes B2 prose sound natural.

9. Passive: Overview

When French uses the passive (formal writing, journalism, certain set phrases) and when it doesn't (most everyday speech). The single most common B2 error is overusing the passive on the English model.

10. Passive: Formation Across Tenses

Être + past participle (agreeing with the subject) + optional par or de agent. Le livre a été écrit par un anonyme (the book was written by an anonymous author). The auxiliary être can be in any tense — the system is fully productive.

11. Par vs De with the Passive

The "by" preposition in passives is par for concrete actions (tué par un soldat — killed by a soldier) and de for emotional or descriptive states (aimé de tous — loved by everyone, suivi d'un silence — followed by a silence). This is one of those rules with no English equivalent.

12. Avoiding the Passive with On

The single most French way to avoid the passive: on a construit la cathédrale au treizième siècle. The subject on obscures the agent, which is exactly what the passive does. Where English instinctively reaches for the passive, French often reaches for on.

13. Pronominal Passive

Ce livre se vend bien (this book sells well), ça ne se fait pas (that isn't done). A reflexive form with passive meaning — extremely common, especially in writing.

Phase 3 — The faire-causative

The faire-causative has no clean English equivalent. It expresses "to have something done" or "to make someone do something", and it is everywhere in spoken French. Mastering it is the difference between sounding like a B1 learner and sounding like someone who lives in France.

14. Faire-Causative: Construction

Faire + infinitive: je fais réparer ma voiture (I'm having my car repaired). The subject of the infinitive (the agent) goes after the infinitive: je fais réparer ma voiture par le garagiste or je *lui fais réparer ma voiture*.

15. Laisser and Permettre

The same syntax with permission rather than causation: je le laisse parler (I let him speak), elle a laissé tomber le verre (she dropped the glass — literally "let the glass fall").

16. Se faire + Infinitive: Passive Causative

The subject undergoes an action: il s'est fait voler son portefeuille (he got his wallet stolen), elle s'est fait insulter (she got insulted). High-frequency in conversation; the construction has no neat English match.

Phase 4 — Word order: clefting and dislocation

French has fixed word order on paper but enormous flexibility in practice. The two main mechanisms for that flexibility are clefting (c'est... que) and dislocation (moi, je...). Both let you focus or de-focus information, and both are heavily used in spoken French.

17. Clefting with C'est... que / qui

The French equivalent of English "It's X that..." For focusing one element of a sentence: c'est Marie qui a téléphoné (It was Marie who called — focus on Marie), c'est demain que je pars (It's tomorrow I'm leaving — focus on tomorrow). Use qui if the focused element is the subject; que otherwise.

18. Dislocation

Spoken French frequently doubles the subject or object: Moi, je trouve ça bizarre (literally "Me, I find that weird"). The pronoun before the comma is the theme (what we're talking about); the clause after is the comment. Dislocation also moves objects out: Le café, je ne l'aime pas (Coffee, I don't like it). This is not redundancy — it is information structure.

19. Inversion in Stylistic Contexts

Beyond questions, French inverts subject and verb after certain adverbs (peut-être, sans doute, à peine, aussi meaning "therefore"), in reporting clauses (dit-il), and in literary narration. À peine était-il arrivé qu'il a fallu repartir. (Hardly had he arrived than they had to leave again.)

Phase 5 — Other tenses to consolidate

20. Futur Antérieur

The "future perfect": quand j'aurai fini, on partira (when I've finished, we'll leave). Built with avoir or être in the futur simple + past participle. Used after quand, dès que, aussitôt que, une fois que when the action precedes another future action.

21. Journalistic Conditional

The conditionnel used to mark information as unconfirmed: le président aurait démissionné (the president has reportedly resigned). Standard in news headlines and political reporting; absent from everyday speech. Recognise it; produce it only if you are writing journalism.

22. Conditionnel Passé for Regret

The standard form for expressing past regret: j'aurais dû partir plus tôt (I should have left earlier), tu aurais pu me prévenir (you could have warned me). Consolidate this pattern; it is the standard adult way to complain in French.

23. Comme si Construction

"As if": always followed by the imparfait or plus-que-parfait, never the conditional. Il parle comme s'il savait tout (he talks as if he knew everything). The structure is rigid — there is no conditional after comme si, ever.

Phase 6 — Relative pronouns, completed

24. Lequel, Laquelle, Lesquels, Lesquelles

The relative pronoun used after a preposition with a non-human antecedent: la table sur laquelle j'ai mis les clés (the table on which I put the keys). It also contracts with à and de: à + lequel = auquel, de + lequel = duquel. Pour qui works for people; pour lequel works for things.

25. Ce qui, Ce que, Ce dont

When the antecedent is "the fact that" or "the thing which": ce qui m'étonne, c'est sa réaction (what surprises me is his reaction), ce que je préfère, c'est le silence (what I prefer is silence). Indispensable for opinion sentences.

Phase 7 — Register awareness

By B2 you should be consciously aware that French has at least three registers — soutenu (formal/literary), standard (neutral), and familier (casual) — and that they differ in vocabulary, syntax, and pronunciation. This is not optional knowledge; using the wrong register is one of the most socially visible mistakes a B2 speaker can make.

26. Spoken vs Written French

The gap is wider in French than in English. Spoken French drops ne, prefers on over nous, uses ça constantly, uses dislocation by default, contracts je suis to chuis, tu as to t'as, il y a to y a. None of this is "wrong" — it is the actual spoken language.

27. Formal vs Informal Register

How register choice cascades through the whole sentence: lexical choices (automobile vs voiture vs bagnole), syntactic choices (inversion vs est-ce que vs intonation), and pronunciation choices (full vs reduced). Pick a register and commit.

28. Formal Correspondence

How to write a formal email or letter — opening formula, body, closing formula. French formal writing has rigid conventions (Je vous prie d'agréer, Madame, l'expression de mes salutations distinguées) that you cannot improvise.

What you can do at the end of B2

By the end of this path you can:

• Use the full subjunctive trigger set, including the harder cases (superlative + relative, hypothetical antecedents)
• Build passives, pronominal passives, and on-constructions, and choose appropriately between them
• Use the faire-causative naturally — including the reflexive se faire form
• Foreground and background information with clefting and dislocation
• Recognise and produce the journalistic conditional, the futur antérieur, and complex sequence-of-tenses
• Switch consciously between formal and informal registers
• Write a clean formal email and follow a French newspaper

You are now operating in French at the level of an educated native speaker for most everyday and professional purposes. What remains — literary tenses, regional varieties, archaic forms, full rhetorical control — is the territory of Parcours C1 and beyond.

Common B2 traps

The B2 errors above are not random — they are all places where English instincts (or A2/B1 habits) override the structural logic of French. By B2, error correction is mostly about catching yourself in the act and refining what you already know, not learning anything new.