Breakdown of Nous cachons les produits chimiques de crainte que les enfants les boivent.
l'enfant
the child
nous
we / us (object pronoun)
boire
to drink
cacher
to hide
les
them (direct object pronoun)
le produit
the product
de crainte que
for fear that
chimique
chemical
Questions & Answers about Nous cachons les produits chimiques de crainte que les enfants les boivent.
Why does this sentence use the subjunctive?
The conjunction de crainte que (for fear that) expresses an emotion and describes a hypothetical action that you are trying to prevent. Because of this subjectivity, this conjunction always forces the following verb into the subjunctive mood.
The verb boivent looks exactly like the present indicative. How do we know it is the subjunctive here?
For many verbs, including irregular ones like boire, the ils/elles conjugation in the present subjunctive is spelled exactly the same as it is in the present indicative. We know it is functioning as the subjunctive in this sentence strictly because the grammar rule for de crainte que demands it.
I have seen sentences where de crainte que is followed by an extra ne. Why is it missing here?
In formal French, you will often see a ne used after de crainte que (for example, de crainte que les enfants ne les boivent). This is called the "ne explétif" (expletive ne). It does not make the sentence negative; it merely highlights the feeling of fear or doubt. It is completely optional and is frequently dropped in everyday spoken French, as it is in our example.
Why is the second les placed right before boivent?
The second les means "them" (replacing les produits chimiques) and acts as a direct object pronoun. French object pronouns must go immediately before the specific verb they modify, even when that verb is trapped inside a subordinate clause like this one.
Could we use de peur que instead of de crainte que in this sentence?
Yes, de peur que and de crainte que are interchangeable. They both mean "for fear that" and they both trigger the subjunctive. De crainte que can sound slightly more formal or literary, but they are used in the exact same way.
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