Breakdown of Si la planète est inhabitable et que vous vouliez la terraformer, il faut purifier l'air.
être
to be
et
and
vous
you (plural/formal)
vouloir
to want
il
it (impersonal subject)
falloir
to be necessary / must (impersonal)
la
her, it (feminine direct object pronoun)
si
if
que
that (introducing a clause)
la planète
the planet
l'air
the air (m)
inhabitable
uninhabitable
terraformer
to terraform
purifier
to purify
Questions & Answers about Si la planète est inhabitable et que vous vouliez la terraformer, il faut purifier l'air.
Why does the sentence say et que instead of et si?
Why is vouliez used here instead of the present indicative voulez?
When que is used to avoid repeating si, the verb in that coordinated clause must be in the subjunctive mood. Even though the first condition uses the indicative present (est), the second requires the subjunctive. Here, vouliez is the present subjunctive form of vouloir for vous (which happens to look identical to the imperfect indicative).
Why is la placed right before terraformer?
la is a direct object pronoun standing in for la planète. When a pronoun is the object of an infinitive verb (like terraformer), it must be placed immediately before that infinitive, rather than before the conjugated verb (vouliez).
Could we use the conditional il faudrait instead of il faut at the end of this sentence?
Not without changing the first part of the sentence. Because the initial si clause uses the present tense (est), it forms a Type 1 conditional, which requires a present, future, or imperative verb in the main result clause. To use the conditional il faudrait, you would have to change the first clause to the imperfect: Si la planète était inhabitable...
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