Breakdown of Ils éteignent le feu sans que l'incendie n'atteigne les autres maisons.
Questions & Answers about Ils éteignent le feu sans que l'incendie n'atteigne les autres maisons.
Because the sentence uses sans que, and sans que almost always triggers the subjunctive.
Structure:
- sans que
- subjunctive
Meaning-wise, the clause sans que l'incendie n'atteigne les autres maisons describes something that is feared/avoided/uncertain (the fire spreading), not something presented as a simple fact. French uses the subjunctive in many such clauses of prevention or fear.
So:
- Ils éteignent le feu sans que l'incendie n’atteigne…
→ atteigne = present subjunctive of atteindre
You would only use an indicative form (atteint, atteindra, etc.) if you were stating it as a fact, e.g.:
- L’incendie atteint les autres maisons. – “The fire is reaching the other houses.” (simple factual statement)
Here, ne is not a real negation. It’s what’s called ne explétif (“expletive ne”).
Key points:
- It does not mean “not” in this sentence.
- It does not change the meaning of the verb.
- It is often found after expressions of fear, prevention, doubt, or time limits, especially with avant que, sans que, de crainte que, etc.
So:
- sans que l’incendie n’atteigne les autres maisons
literally is like “without (that) the fire should reach the other houses,”
but you translate it simply as “without the fire reaching the other houses.”
In English, nothing corresponds directly to this ne; we just ignore it in translation.
Yes, you can leave it out, and the sentence is still correct and fully understandable:
- Ils éteignent le feu sans que l’incendie atteigne les autres maisons.
Differences:
- With ne (ne explétif): a bit more formal/literary or careful style.
- Without ne: very common in everyday spoken French and entirely acceptable in modern writing.
So:
- Meaning: unchanged.
- Register: with ne sounds more elevated or traditional; without ne is more neutral and modern.
This is about subject change.
Rule of thumb:
- If the subject is the same in both clauses → use sans
- infinitive.
- If the subject is different → use sans que
- subjunctive.
Here:
- Main clause subject: ils (they)
- Subordinate clause subject: l’incendie (the fire)
Different subjects → you must use sans que + subjunctive:
- ✅ Ils éteignent le feu sans que l’incendie (ne) atteigne les autres maisons.
If the same subject did both actions, you could do:
- Ils éteignent le feu sans atteindre les autres maisons.
(Same subject “they” are extinguishing and not reaching the houses – which doesn’t really make sense physically, but grammatically that’s the structure.)
So sans atteindre only works comfortably when the understood subject of atteindre is the same as the main subject.
Both refer to “fire,” but with slightly different nuances:
- le feu: general word for fire, can be neutral (campfire, match flame, stove, etc.).
- l’incendie: specifically a damaging, destructive fire (a blaze, a conflagration), usually something that burns property, buildings, forests, etc.
In this sentence:
- Ils éteignent le feu – they are literally putting out the flames.
- sans que l’incendie n’atteigne les autres maisons – without the destructive fire spreading to other houses.
You could think of:
- feu = the flames they are actively extinguishing
- incendie = the overall dangerous event / blaze as it might spread
In everyday speech, people sometimes mix them, but incendie keeps that “damaging fire” idea.
Yes, éteignent is the correct present tense form for ils (they):
Verb: éteindre (“to extinguish, turn off”)
Present indicative:
- j’éteins
- tu éteins
- il/elle/on éteint
- nous éteignons
- vous éteignez
- ils/elles éteignent
Pronunciation:
- éteignent is pronounced approximately: é-tɛɲ
– final -ent is silent
– the gn represents the “ny” sound (like in Spanish señor).
So ils éteignent sounds close to eel ay-teɲ.
If you put the main action in the past, you normally adjust the subordinate as well, but the pattern stays:
Imperfect or passé composé + present subjunctive (common in practice):
- Ils ont éteint le feu sans que l’incendie n’atteigne les autres maisons.
- Ils éteignaient le feu sans que l’incendie n’atteigne les autres maisons.
This is very common in modern French. The present subjunctive is used even though the overall event is in the past.
Imperfect or passé composé + past subjunctive (more precise / formal):
- Ils ont éteint le feu sans que l’incendie n’ait atteint les autres maisons.
Here:
- ait atteint is the past subjunctive of atteindre.
- It emphasizes that the reaching (which did not happen) would have happened before or by the time they finished extinguishing the fire.
In everyday French, using the present subjunctive (atteigne) after a past main verb is extremely common and perfectly acceptable.
Both are possible, but the nuance is different.
les autres maisons = the other houses (the rest of a known, specific group of houses in that area).
- Implies you already have a defined set (e.g. all houses in a street or village), and you mean “the other ones of that set.”
d’autres maisons = other houses (non-specific, some other houses somewhere).
- Less tied to a particular defined group; it could be any other houses.
In a situation like a neighborhood fire, les autres maisons is natural, because we’re talking about a clearly defined group: all the houses in that place.
Yes, French allows that, and it’s quite natural:
- Sans que l’incendie n’atteigne les autres maisons, ils éteignent le feu.
Meaning stays the same. Notes:
- You normally add a comma when the subordinate clause comes first.
- Word order in French is fairly flexible for such clauses, as long as the grammar (conjunction + subjunctive) is preserved.
So both are fine:
- Ils éteignent le feu sans que l’incendie n’atteigne les autres maisons.
- Sans que l’incendie n’atteigne les autres maisons, ils éteignent le feu.
In the sense used here, essentially yes.
When sans que introduces a clause expressing:
- prevention,
- non-realized possibility,
- something that might have happened but didn’t,
it takes the subjunctive:
- Il est parti sans que je le voie. – He left without my seeing him.
- Elle a fini sans que personne ne l’aide. – She finished without anyone helping her.
Only in some rarer, more literal or older-style uses where sans que is almost like “without the fact that…” and is stating a clear, established fact might you see the indicative. In everyday modern French:
- sans que
- subjunctive is the rule you should follow.
Yes, that’s a valid sentence, but the nuance changes.
sans que: highlights the non-occurrence of the second event.
→ they managed to put out the fire, and as a result, the fire did not reach the other houses.avant que: focuses on time/sequence – doing one action before the other could happen.
→ they extinguish the fire before the fire reaches the other houses (or before it would have).
Both:
- take the subjunctive (atteigne),
- often allow ne explétif (n’atteigne),
- describe prevention, but sans que emphasizes “without it happening,” while avant que emphasizes “before it (could) happen.”