Learn French: Les parents veulent que leurs enfants s'appliquent ce trimestre. - The parents want their children to apply themselves this trimester.

The phrase veulent que expresses a desire, which requires the following verb to be in the subjunctive mood. The subjunctive verb here is s'appliquent.

Wait, s'appliquent looks exactly like the normal present tense. Is it really in the subjunctive?

Yes! For regular -er verbs like s'appliquer, the third-person plural (ils/elles) form in the present subjunctive is spelled exactly the same as the present indicative. You know it is subjunctive here because of the veulent que rule.

The English translation says 'want their children to apply'. Why doesn't the French sentence use an infinitive like appliquer?

In French, you cannot use an infinitive after vouloir if the subjects are different. Because the parents want someone else (the children) to do the action, you must use vouloir que followed by a new subject and a conjugated subjunctive verb. Literally, it means they 'want that their children apply themselves'.

Why is there an s' before appliquent?

The verb here is s'appliquer, which is a reflexive verb. Just like in English where you say 'apply themselves', French requires a reflexive pronoun. The s' matches the third-person plural subject leurs enfants.