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Le professeur veut que la punition soit stricte.

Le professeur veut que la punition soit stricte.
The teacher wants the punishment to be strict.
From Lesson 189:Subjunctive for desires (vouloir que, aimer que)·French

Questions & Answers about Le professeur veut que la punition soit stricte.

Why does this sentence use soit instead of est?
The verb vouloir (to want) expresses a desire or will. When you want someone or something else to do an action, French requires the phrase vouloir que followed by the subjunctive mood. Because of this, the normal present tense est becomes the subjunctive soit.
In English, we say 'wants the punishment to be'. Why doesn't French use the infinitive être here?
In French, you cannot say veut la punition être. When the person wanting (the teacher) is different from the subject of the second action (the punishment), you must use que (that) and a conjugated verb. Literally, French phrases this as 'The teacher wants that the punishment be strict.'
Is soit a regular subjunctive form?
No, soit is highly irregular. It is the subjunctive form of the verb être (to be) for il, elle, or on. The subjunctive forms for être are completely different from its normal present tense forms, so you just have to memorize them.
Why does stricte end with an extra e here?
Adjectives must agree in gender with the noun they describe. La punition is a feminine noun (a helpful tip is that almost all French nouns ending in -tion are feminine), so the adjective strict gets an extra e added to the end.

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