Breakdown of Elle lisait un livre, alors elle a verrouillé la porte de crainte que le bébé sorte.
un
a / an (masculine)
elle
she
le livre
the book
avoir
to have
le bébé
the baby
sortir
to go out
lire
to read
la porte
the door
alors
so, then
verrouiller
to lock
de crainte que
for fear that
Questions & Answers about Elle lisait un livre, alors elle a verrouillé la porte de crainte que le bébé sorte.
Why is sorte in the subjunctive rather than the indicative?
The conjunction de crainte que (for fear that) expresses emotion and apprehension about a hypothetical situation. Expressions of fear and uncertainty trigger the subjunctive mood in French, which is why the verb sortir (to go out) takes the subjunctive form sorte.
Shouldn't there be a ne before sorte?
You might be thinking of the 'ne explétif', a purely stylistic ne often added after conjunctions of fear like de crainte que or de peur que (for example: de crainte que le bébé ne sorte). Because the 'ne explétif' doesn't actually make the sentence negative and is mostly formal or literary, it is frequently dropped in modern, everyday French.
Why do we see both the imparfait (lisait) and the passé composé (a verrouillé) in the first half of the sentence?
This highlights the classic difference between these two past tenses. Elle lisait (she was reading) uses the imparfait because it sets the ongoing background scene. Elle a verrouillé (she locked) uses the passé composé because it is a single, completed action that took place against that background.
Could I swap de crainte que for de peur que here?
Yes, you can. De peur que and de crainte que are completely synonymous and both require the subjunctive. De crainte que is just a little bit more formal than de peur que.
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