Prends ce médicament avant que la fièvre ne revienne.
Take this medicine before the fever comes back.
Breakdown of Prends ce médicament avant que la fièvre ne revienne.
ce
this (before a noun)
prendre
to have (a meal/drink) / to take
la fièvre
the fever
la
her, it (feminine direct object pronoun)
le médicament
the medicine
revenir
to come back
avant que
before (conjunction)
ne
expletive 'ne' (no negative meaning)
Questions & Answers about Prends ce médicament avant que la fièvre ne revienne.
Why is there a ne before revienne if the sentence isn't negative?
This is the ne explétif. It is a grammatical quirk used in formal or written French after certain conjunctions like avant que (before). It doesn't make the sentence negative; rather, it acts as a stylistic element to emphasize the anticipation or prevention of an upcoming event.
Do I have to use the ne in this sentence when speaking normally?
Why is the verb revienne in the subjunctive mood?
The conjunction avant que always triggers the subjunctive. This is because the action it introduces (the fever returning) hasn't occurred yet at the time of the main action, meaning it is viewed as a potential or anticipated event rather than a solid fact. revienne is the present subjunctive form of revenir.
What would the sentence look like if it were actually a negative statement?
If you wanted to express a true negative (which would mean something strange here, like 'before the fever does not come back'), you would use a full two-part negative structure: avant que la fièvre ne revienne pas. Seeing the word ne all by itself after avant que is your big clue that it's just the stylistic expletive, not a real negation.
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