Word
Elle désirait que je réalise son souhait.
Meaning
She desired that I fulfill her wish.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Elle désirait que je réalise son souhait.
je
I
elle
she
son
his/her/its (son, sa, ses)
que
that (introducing a clause)
Questions & Answers about Elle désirait que je réalise son souhait.
Why is réalise in the present subjunctive when the main verb (désirait) is in the past tense?
In modern French, the sequence of tenses is simplified. We use the present subjunctive (réalise) after a past-tense verb to show that the action happens at the same time or after the main desire. The traditional choice would be the imperfect subjunctive (réalisasse), but that is now only used in highly formal literature.
Could we use the past subjunctive (aie réalisé) in this sentence instead?
Not without changing the logic of the sentence entirely. You use the past subjunctive when the action in the que clause happened before the main verb's action. Since fulfilling the wish is a potential future action relative to her desiring it, we must use the present subjunctive.
Réalise looks exactly like the present indicative. How can we tell it is subjunctive here?
For regular -er verbs, the present indicative and present subjunctive forms are completely identical for the je, tu, il/elle/on, and ils/elles pronouns. We know it is in the subjunctive mood here because it is triggered by désirait que, an expression of will or desire that strictly requires the subjunctive.
Doesn't réaliser usually mean "to realize" (to notice or understand)?