When giving advice (un conseil) and talking about healthy living, you will often express necessity using phrases like il faut que (it is necessary that / you must).
In French, expressions of necessity, judgment, and emotion trigger a special verb mood in the following clause: the subjunctive (le subjonctif).
The subjunctive almost always appears after the word que. To conjugate a regular verb in the present subjunctive for je, tu, il/elle/on, and ils/elles, follow these simple steps:
- Take the normal present tense ils/elles form of the verb (e.g., ils transpirent, ils choisissent).
- Drop the -ent to find your subjunctive stem (transpir-, choisiss-).
- Add the subjunctive endings: -e, -es, -e, -ent.
| Pronoun | Ending | transpirer (stem: transpir-) | choisir (stem: choisiss-) |
|---|
| je / j' | -e | que je transpire | que je choisisse |
| tu | -es | que tu transpires | que tu choisisses |
| il/elle/on | -e | qu'il transpire | qu'il choisisse |
| ils/elles | -ent | qu'ils transpirent | qu'ils choisissent |
Notice that for regular -er verbs, these subjunctive forms look identical to the normal present indicative tense. However, for -ir verbs, you will clearly hear the -iss- stem carrying over.
Other Expressions of Necessity
Il faut que is the most common subjunctive trigger, but you will use the exact same verb forms after other impersonal expressions of advice and judgment, such as il vaut mieux que (it is better that) or il est important que (it is important that).
For nous and vous, the regular present subjunctive uses different endings: -ions and -iez.
If you have already learned the imparfait (the continuous past tense), you have a great shortcut: for regular verbs, the nous and vous present subjunctive forms are completely identical to their imparfait forms!