Breakdown of Nous attendons jusqu'à ce que la céramique durcisse.
nous
we / us (object pronoun)
attendre
to wait / to wait for
jusqu'à ce que
until
durcir
to harden
la céramique
the ceramic
Questions & Answers about Nous attendons jusqu'à ce que la céramique durcisse.
Why do we use the subjunctive form durcisse here?
The phrase jusqu'à ce que (until) always triggers the subjunctive mood. In French, you use the subjunctive here because the action of the ceramic hardening hasn't happened yet; it is an anticipated event rather than a completed fact.
What verb is durcisse from, and how is this subjunctive form built?
It comes from durcir (to harden), which is a regular -ir verb. To find the subjunctive stem, take the present tense "they" form (ils durcissent), drop the -ent to get the stem durciss-, and add the regular subjunctive ending for "it" (-e).
Why is it jusqu'à ce que instead of just jusqu'à?
You use jusqu'à as a preposition when a simple noun or time follows (like jusqu'à demain for "until tomorrow"). But when you are introducing a full clause with a subject and a verb (like la céramique durcisse), you must use the conjunction jusqu'à ce que, which roughly translates to "up to the point that."
The English translation says "are waiting." Why isn't there a separate word for "are" in the French sentence?
French doesn't have a distinct present continuous tense (the "-ing" form) like English does. The standard present tense nous attendons automatically covers both "we wait" and "we are waiting" depending on the context of the sentence.
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