Breakdown of Je n'espère plus que le héros puisse réussir cette quête.
je
I
ce
this (before a noun)
pouvoir
to be able to / can
réussir
to succeed
espérer
to hope
que
that (introducing a clause)
ne... plus
(not) anymore / no longer
le héros
the hero
la quête
the quest
Questions & Answers about Je n'espère plus que le héros puisse réussir cette quête.
Why is puisse in the subjunctive here instead of the indicative?
This is the core rule for espérer que! When you use it in the affirmative (like j'espère que), it takes the indicative because you are expressing a confident expectation. However, when it is negative (like Je n'espère plus que here) or asked as a question, that confidence is gone, so it triggers the subjunctive (puisse).
Why is there no pas after the verb in Je n'espère plus?
The word plus replaces pas to create the negative phrase ne ... plus, which means 'no longer' or 'not anymore'. Using pas and plus together here would be incorrect.
Why isn't there a preposition like à or dans after réussir?
When réussir means 'to succeed in' or 'to pass' a specific event, test, or task (like cette quête or un examen), it takes a direct object without any preposition. You only need the preposition à when it is followed by another verb (for example, réussir à sauver le monde - to succeed in saving the world).
What verb is puisse, and why does it look so unusual?
It is the subjunctive form of pouvoir (to be able to / can). Pouvoir has a highly irregular subjunctive stem (puiss-) that you just have to memorize, making the forms je puisse, tu puisses, il/elle puisse, and so on.
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