Word
Il semble que le chercheur démontre ce fait avec certitude.
Meaning
It seems that the researcher demonstrates this fact with certainty.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Il semble que le chercheur démontre ce fait avec certitude.
avec
with
ce
this (before a noun)
il
it (impersonal subject)
que
that (introducing a clause)
Questions & Answers about Il semble que le chercheur démontre ce fait avec certitude.
Since the lesson is about 'il semble que' triggering the subjunctive, why does 'démontre' look like the regular present tense?
It actually is the subjunctive! For regular -er verbs like démontrer, the il/elle forms are identical in both the present indicative and the present subjunctive. Because the sentence uses il semble que, which introduces an objective uncertainty, grammatical rules dictate that démontre here is functioning as the subjunctive.
If I changed the beginning to 'Il me semble que', would 'démontre' still be in the subjunctive?
No, it would be in the indicative. While il semble que takes the subjunctive because it implies a general doubt, adding a pronoun to make il me semble que turns it into a statement of personal belief ('it seems to me that'). Personal beliefs take the indicative in French. The spelling of démontre wouldn't change, but its grammatical mood would!
Does 'le chercheur' just mean anyone who is looking for something?
Why use the phrase 'avec certitude' instead of a single adverb like 'certainement'?