Breakdown of Nous partirons demain, sauf s'il pleut.
demain
tomorrow
partir
to leave / to depart
pleuvoir
to rain
sauf si
unless (+ indicative)
Questions & Answers about Nous partirons demain, sauf s'il pleut.
The current lesson is about using the subjunctive with à moins que (unless). Why doesn't this sentence use the subjunctive?
While both à moins que and sauf si mean "unless", they have different grammatical rules. À moins que requires the subjunctive, but sauf si requires the indicative. Because this sentence uses sauf si, the verb pleut is in the regular present indicative tense.
Could I rewrite this exact sentence using à moins que to practice the lesson topic?
Yes! You would say: Nous partirons demain, à moins qu'il ne pleuve. Notice that with à moins que, you must change the verb to the subjunctive (pleuve), and you will often see the formal, non-negative "ne explétif" added before the verb.
Why is pleut in the present tense when the main action (partirons) happens in the future?
This follows the standard "si clause" rule for likely future events. Just like in English, when a condition introduced by si (if) leads to a future result, the verb directly following si stays in the present tense. Therefore, we pair the present il pleut with the future nous partirons.
Why does si become s' before il?
The word si only ever elides (drops its vowel and adds an apostrophe) when it is immediately followed by il or ils. For any other vowel, including elle or on, it remains a full word (for example, si elle or si on).
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