Word
Qu'ils parlent de vengeance après leur lâcheté !
Meaning
That they would speak of revenge after their cowardice!
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Qu'ils parlent de vengeance après leur lâcheté !
ils
they (masculine/mixed)
de
of / from / any (in negative sentences) / about (concerning)
parler
to speak
leur
their
Questions & Answers about Qu'ils parlent de vengeance après leur lâcheté !
Why does this sentence start with Qu' and use the subjunctive when there is no main clause triggering it?
This is the indignant independent subjunctive. By starting a sentence with Que plus the subjunctive, you can express strong emotion, outrage, or disbelief without needing a main clause like Je suis choqué que... It translates well to 'That they would...' or 'To think that they speak...'
Since parlent looks exactly like the present indicative, how can we be sure it is the subjunctive here?
Regular ER verbs share the same forms for the present indicative and present subjunctive for the ils and elles pronouns. We know it is the subjunctive here because of the grammatical structure: an exclamation starting with Que acting independently to show strong emotion is a classic subjunctive trigger.
Why is it parlent de vengeance instead of parlent de la vengeance?
When you use parler de (to speak about or of) followed by an abstract noun in a general sense, the definite article is often omitted. They are speaking about the concept of revenge in general, not a specific, defined act of revenge.
What is the root of the word lâcheté?