Breakdown of C'est pourquoi nous avons peur que ce symptôme soit très contagieux.
être
to be
très
very
nous
we / us (object pronoun)
ce
this (before a noun)
avoir peur
to be afraid
que
that (introducing a clause)
c'est pourquoi
that is why
le symptôme
the symptom
contagieux
contagious
Questions & Answers about C'est pourquoi nous avons peur que ce symptôme soit très contagieux.
Why is soit in the subjunctive here?
The phrase avoir peur que (to be afraid that) expresses an emotion or fear, which requires the following verb to be in the subjunctive mood. That is why we use soit (the subjunctive of être) instead of the indicative est.
Could I use C'est pour ça que instead of C'est pourquoi?
Why is it ce symptôme when the noun ends in -e?
Even though it ends in an -e, symptôme is a masculine noun. Many French words ending in -ôme or -ème that come from Greek are masculine (like le problème, le système, or le thème). Therefore, it takes the masculine demonstrative adjective ce.
Why do we use que after peur instead of de?
You use avoir peur que when there are two different subjects in the sentence. Here, the pronoun nous (we) is experiencing the fear, but ce symptôme (this symptom) is the subject of the second clause. If the subject were the same for both actions, you would use de followed by an infinitive (for example, nous avons peur d'être contagieux).
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