Learn French: Il va modeler l'argile jusqu'à ce qu'elle soit parfaite. - He is going to shape the clay until it is perfect.

Il va modeler l'argile jusqu'à ce qu'elle soit parfaite.

He is going to shape the clay until it is perfect.

Breakdown of Il va modeler l'argile jusqu'à ce qu'elle soit parfaite.

Questions & Answers about Il va modeler l'argile jusqu'à ce qu'elle soit parfaite.

Why is soit used here instead of est?

The phrase jusqu'à ce que (until) requires the verb that follows it to be in the subjunctive mood. This is because it introduces an anticipated event that hasn't happened yet and might not happen. Here, soit is the present subjunctive form of être (to be) matching the pronoun elle.

Why does the sentence use elle and parfaite when talking about clay?

In English, clay is an "it", but in French, every noun has a grammatical gender. The word for clay, argile, is feminine. Therefore, it is replaced by the feminine pronoun elle, and the adjective describing it must be in the feminine form, parfaite.

The first part of the sentence is in the near future tense (va modeler). Why isn't the subjunctive verb in the future tense too?

French does not have a future subjunctive tense! The present subjunctive (soit) is used to talk about both present and future events that follow subjunctive triggers like jusqu'à ce que.

Why is it written as qu'elle instead of que elle?

In French, when short words like que, je, or me are followed directly by a word starting with a vowel or a silent H (like elle), the e is dropped and replaced with an apostrophe. This is called elision, and it makes the sentence flow more smoothly when spoken.