Je crois que tout est possible.

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Breakdown of Je crois que tout est possible.

• être: to be
• que: that
• croire: to believe
• tout: everything
• possible: possible

Questions & Answers about Je crois que tout est possible.

Why do we use Je crois que instead of Je crois on its own?

In French, when you want to say you believe something specific, you generally follow Je crois with que (meaning "that") plus a clause. So Je crois que tout est possible literally translates to I believe that everything is possible. If you just say Je crois, it sounds incomplete because you're not specifying what you believe in.

Why is the indicative (est) used instead of the subjunctive (e.g., soit) after Je crois que?

In French, after verbs that express belief or opinion (such as croire, penser, trouver), the indicative is usually used if you’re confident in that statement or think it’s a fact. The subjunctive (soit) is often used when there is doubt, uncertainty, or emotion. Since Je crois que tout est possible expresses a firm belief, it takes the indicative (est) rather than the subjunctive.

Could we say Je pense que tout est possible instead of Je crois que tout est possible?

Yes, you could. Je pense que and Je crois que are quite similar in meaning when you want to give your opinion. Je crois que often emphasizes belief, while Je pense que emphasizes thought. However, in everyday speech, they are used rather interchangeably.

What does tout mean here, and does it change form?

Here, tout is an indefinite pronoun meaning everything. It does not change form when used as a pronoun in the singular sense (i.e., referring to everything as a whole concept). If you were using tout as an adjective, it could change to toute, tous, or toutes depending on the noun’s gender and number, but in tout est possible, it remains tout.

Do native speakers ever omit que after Je crois?

Sometimes in informal speech, you might hear a contracted form like J’crois followed by a statement, but the que is often still implied or might show up as something shortened like qu’. It’s more common and grammatically standard to include que in writing or more careful speech, as in Je crois que tout est possible.