Breakdown of Que le traître se taise et qu'il bénisse le roi !
il
he
et
and
le roi
the king
que
let / may (third-person command)
le traître
the traitor
se taire
to keep quiet
bénir
to bless
Questions & Answers about Que le traître se taise et qu'il bénisse le roi !
Why is there no main verb like "Je veux" before Que le traître se taise?
This is an independent subjunctive clause, which is exactly how French handles third-person commands and wishes. Since you cannot give a direct imperative command to a "he," "she," or "it," you use Que followed by the subjunctive to mean "Let him..." or "May he...". No introductory verb is needed.
Why do we repeat qu'il in the second half instead of just saying et bénisse le roi?
In French, when you connect two subjunctive clauses with a conjunction like et or ou, you must repeat the que (or qu') before the second verb. It reminds the listener that the second action is still part of the same command or wish.
What verb does se taise come from?
It comes from the reflexive verb se taire (to keep quiet or be silent). To form the present subjunctive, we take the ils form of the present indicative (ils se taisent) and drop the -ent to get the stem (tais-). Then we add the subjunctive ending -e for the third person singular.
Why does bénisse have a double 's' in it?
The verb bénir (to bless) follows the regular -ir verb pattern, just like finir or choisir. These verbs add an -iss- in their plural present tense forms (like ils bénissent). Since the present subjunctive uses that ils form as its base, the -iss- carries over to the subjunctive to give us qu'il bénisse.
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