Breakdown of Je prends le verre de peur que le bébé le casse.
je
I
prendre
to have (a meal/drink) / to take
le bébé
the baby
le verre
the glass / the drink
le
him, it (masculine direct object pronoun)
casser
to break
de peur que
for fear that
Questions & Answers about Je prends le verre de peur que le bébé le casse.
Is casse in the indicative or subjunctive mood here?
It is in the subjunctive mood, because the conjunction de peur que always requires it. Because casser is a regular -er verb, its third-person singular form in the present subjunctive (casse) happens to be spelled exactly the same as the present indicative.
I thought de peur que was supposed to be followed by a ne explétif. Why isn't there an extra ne before casse?
Could I use de peur de instead of de peur que in this sentence?
No, because the subject changes. You can only use de peur de followed by an infinitive when the subject of both halves of the sentence is the exact same person. Here, the subject changes from je (I) to le bébé (the baby), so you must use de peur que with a conjugated subjunctive verb.
Just as a refresher, why does the second le come before the verb in le casse?
The second le is a direct object pronoun meaning 'it', referring back to le verre (the glass). In French, object pronouns must be placed directly before the conjugated verb they are attached to.
Learn Je prends le verre de peur que le bébé le casse and more in French
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free