Breakdown of Nous faisons semblant de dormir pour que le traiteur arrive secrètement.
nous
we / us (object pronoun)
arriver
to arrive
dormir
to sleep
pour que
so that
secrètement
secretly
le traiteur
the caterer
faire semblant de
to pretend to
Questions & Answers about Nous faisons semblant de dormir pour que le traiteur arrive secrètement.
The current lesson is about pour peu que, but this sentence uses pour que. What is the difference?
Pour que means 'so that' and expresses purpose, while pour peu que means 'provided that' or 'if only' and expresses a minimal condition. Both conjunctions require the subjunctive mood. Here, we are pretending to sleep in order for the caterer to arrive, so it expresses a purpose (pour que). It is a good reminder of another common subjunctive trigger!
Is arrive in the subjunctive here? It looks exactly like the normal present tense.
Yes, it is in the subjunctive because it immediately follows pour que. For regular -er verbs like arriver, the present subjunctive forms for je, tu, il/elle/on, and ils/elles are spelled identically to the present indicative. Even though it looks the same, grammatically it is the subjunctive.
Why use faisons semblant de instead of a single verb like prétendons for 'pretend'?
The French verb prétendre is a false friend; it usually means 'to claim' or 'to assert'. To express 'pretending' or faking a physical action, French uses the fixed expression faire semblant de followed by an infinitive (like dormir here).
Could we just say pour le traiteur arriver instead of using pour que?
No, because the subjects of the two actions are different. The subject of the first part is nous, and the subject of the second part is le traiteur. When the subjects change, you must use pour que plus the subjunctive. You only use pour plus the infinitive when the subject is the same for both actions (for example, Nous dormons pour nous reposer).
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