Breakdown of J'ai peur que ce qui est nouveau gâche ce que nous aimons.
je
I
être
to be
nous
we / us (object pronoun)
aimer
to like, to love
nouveau
new
avoir peur
to be afraid
que
that (introducing a clause)
ce qui
what (subject)
ce que
what (object)
gâcher
to ruin
Questions & Answers about J'ai peur que ce qui est nouveau gâche ce que nous aimons.
Why is gâche in the subjunctive here?
The phrase J'ai peur que (I am afraid that) expresses a strong emotion. In French, expressions of emotion require the verb in the following clause to be in the subjunctive mood. Here, gâche is the present subjunctive of gâcher (to ruin).
The English translation says "will ruin," so why is gâche in the present tense instead of the future?
The subjunctive mood doesn't have a future tense in French. When an emotion triggers the subjunctive (like J'ai peur que), you use the present subjunctive for actions happening either right now or in the future.
Why isn't aimons also in the subjunctive, since the sentence starts with J'ai peur que?
The emotion only triggers the subjunctive for the specific action being feared, which is the ruining (gâche). The phrase ce que nous aimons (what we like) is just stating a real, established fact about our preferences, so it stays in the normal indicative mood.
Why does the sentence use ce qui in the first half but ce que in the second half?
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