Breakdown of Lave le bol en attendant que la pâte gonfle sous le torchon.
sous
under
laver
to wash (something)
la pâte
the dough
le bol
the bowl
Questions & Answers about Lave le bol en attendant que la pâte gonfle sous le torchon.
The lesson says en attendant que takes the subjunctive, but gonfle looks exactly like the normal present tense. Is it really the subjunctive?
Yes! For regular -er verbs like gonfler, the present indicative and present subjunctive are identical for the je, tu, il/elle/on, and ils/elles forms. Even though it looks like the regular present tense, it is grammatically the subjunctive because en attendant que always forces the subjunctive mood.
Could I use jusqu'à ce que (until) instead of en attendant que in this sentence?
You could, and the grammar would stay exactly the same: jusqu'à ce que la pâte gonfle (both require the subjunctive). However, en attendant que specifically highlights the active waiting period (while waiting for it to rise), whereas jusqu'à ce que simply marks the endpoint in time (until it rises).
Why doesn't Lave have an 's' at the end, since it is a command directed at tu?
In the imperative (command) mood, regular -er verbs drop the final 's' for the tu conjugation. So, the normal present tense tu laves becomes just Lave when giving an order.
The word torchon looks like 'torch'. Is it a false friend?