Breakdown of Soit que ce soit l'ignorance, soit que ce soit la malchance, le résultat est mauvais.
être
to be
ce
it / this (with être)
mauvais
bad
le résultat
the result
soit que
whether it is because
l'ignorance
the ignorance (f)
la malchance
the bad luck (unluckiness)
Questions & Answers about Soit que ce soit l'ignorance, soit que ce soit la malchance, le résultat est mauvais.
Why does the word soit appear twice in a row in soit que ce soit?
The first soit belongs to the conjunction soit que (whether). The second soit is the verb être in the subjunctive mood, conjugated with the pronoun ce (it). Put together, soit que ce soit translates to exactly "whether it is" (or literally, "whether it be").
Why do we use the subjunctive ce soit here instead of the indicative c'est?
The structure soit que... soit que... sets up alternative hypotheses or conditions, rather than guaranteed facts. Because we are presenting these as uncertain possibilities, French grammar requires the subjunctive mood.
Could we simplify this sentence by dropping the verbs and just using the nouns?
Yes! If you are just linking nouns instead of full clauses, you can use soit... soit... (either... or...) without que or a verb. You could simply say, Soit l'ignorance, soit la malchance, le résultat est mauvais. This is actually much more common in everyday speech because it avoids the heavy repetition of the word soit.
Can I use ou que instead of repeating soit que for the second option?
Learn Soit que ce soit l'ignorance, soit que ce soit la malchance, le résultat est mauvais and more in French
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free