Breakdown of Ce que je déteste, c'est qu'il faut que nous transpirions beaucoup.
je
I
nous
we / us (object pronoun)
beaucoup
a lot, much
il
it (impersonal subject)
falloir
to be necessary / must (impersonal)
détester
to hate
c'est
it is, that is
que
that (introducing a clause)
ce que
what (object)
transpirer
to sweat
Questions & Answers about Ce que je déteste, c'est qu'il faut que nous transpirions beaucoup.
Why is the verb spelled transpirions instead of the normal present tense transpirons?
This is the present subjunctive form! The expression il faut que (it is necessary that / we must) always forces the following verb into the subjunctive. Since transpirer is a regular verb, we find its subjunctive stem by looking at the present tense ils form (ils transpirent). We drop the -ent to get the stem transpir-, and then add the subjunctive ending for nous, which is -ions.
Why does the sentence start with Ce que? Can't I just say Que je déteste?
In French, you cannot use just que to mean 'what' at the beginning of a statement. When you want to say 'What I hate...' (meaning 'The thing that I hate...'), you must use ce que (literally 'that which'). You use ce que instead of ce qui here because the verb déteste already has a subject (je), making ce que the object.
Why is there a c'est right before qu'il faut?
Why are there two que sounds close together in c'est qu'il faut que?
The first one is que contracted with il to make qu'il. In French, you need that first que to say 'is THAT it is necessary'. The second que is a built-in part of the expression il faut que, which links to the next verb. So the phrase literally translates to '...is THAT it is necessary THAT we sweat.'
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