Breakdown of Il faut que le maire soit présent pour cette initiative.
être
to be
pour
for
ce
this (before a noun)
il
it (impersonal subject)
falloir
to be necessary / must (impersonal)
que
that (introducing a clause)
présent
present
le maire
the mayor
l'initiative
the initiative (f)
Questions & Answers about Il faut que le maire soit présent pour cette initiative.
Why do we use soit here instead of the standard present tense est?
The phrase Il faut que (It is necessary that / must) is an expression of necessity. In French, expressions of necessity followed by que require the verb that follows to be in the subjunctive mood. Soit is the irregular subjunctive form of être (to be) matching le maire (he/it).
Could I avoid the subjunctive and just say Il faut le maire être présent?
No, that structure doesn't work in French. You can use il faut directly with an infinitive only when stating a general rule (like il faut manger - one must eat). But when you state exactly who needs to do the action (the mayor), you must use il faut que followed by the specific subject and the subjunctive verb.
I noticed cette initiative. Are all words ending in -tive feminine?
Yes, almost always! The suffix -tive is the feminine form of nouns or adjectives that end in -tif in the masculine. The feminine demonstrative adjective cette (this/that) is used here to match the feminine noun initiative.
Does le maire (the mayor) sound exactly like la mère (the mother) and la mer (the sea)?
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