Breakdown of Ajoutez de l'eau jusqu'à ce que l'argile devienne souple.
l'eau
the water
de
of / from / any (in negative sentences) / about (concerning)
ajouter
to add
devenir
to become
souple
flexible
l'argile
the clay (f)
jusqu'à ce que
until
Questions & Answers about Ajoutez de l'eau jusqu'à ce que l'argile devienne souple.
Why is "devienne" used here instead of the regular present tense "devient"?
devienne is the subjunctive form of devenir (to become). It is required here because it directly follows the conjunction jusqu'à ce que (until). In French, "until" introduces an anticipated action that has not yet been realized, which triggers the subjunctive mood.
Why is there a "ce" in jusqu'à ce que? Can I just say "jusqu'à que"?
No, jusqu'à que is grammatically incorrect. While jusqu'à means "up to", French prepositions like à cannot be directly followed by que. The ce acts as a bridge, meaning "the fact" or "that". Literally, the phrase means "up to the fact that", but you should memorize jusqu'à ce que as a fixed phrase meaning "until".
How is the subjunctive form devienne constructed?
To form the subjunctive for verbs like devenir, you take the present tense ils/elles form (ils deviennent), drop the -ent to get the stem (devienn-), and add the subjunctive ending. Since l'argile is a feminine singular noun (she/it), we add the ending -e, giving us devienne.
Why does the sentence use de l'eau instead of just l'eau?
de l'eau uses the partitive article to mean an unspecified quantity, or "some water". If the sentence used the definite article (Ajoutez l'eau), it would mean "Add the water", implying a specific, previously measured amount of water rather than just general water.
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