French Language > Verbs

Formation of the Present Subjunctive (and the Past)
One Rule to Govern Them All

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I. Beginning with the Endings

The personal endings of the subjunctive are:

– hardly different from the ordinary (that is, indicative) personal endings of an -er verb: -e -es -e -ons -ez -ent.

One verb only (être) has singular personal endings -s -s -t; one only other verb (avoir) has a -t 3rd person singular ending.

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II. Special Subjunctive Stems

A very small number of verbs have subjunctive stems that differ from their indicative stems. They are these:

Infinitive	Indicative Present Stem	Subjunctive 1st-Person Singular
aller	(all-)	j’aill e
avoir	(a-, av-)	j’ai e
être	(es-, so-)	je soi s
faire	(fai-)	je fass e
falloir	(fau-, [fal-])	je faill e
pouvoir	(peu-, pouv-)	je puiss e
savoir	(sai-, sav-)	je sach e
valoir	(vau-, val-)	je vaill e
vouloir	(veu-, voul-)	je veuill e

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Avoir, être, faire, pouvoir, and savoir have the same stem throughout the subjunctive present:

• avoir: ai- (ai e, ai es, ai t, ay ons, ay ez, ai ent ¹
• être: soi- (soi s, soi s, soi t, soy ons, soy ez, soi ent)
• faire: fass- (fass e, fass es, fass e, fass ions, fass iez, fass ent)
• pouvoir: puiss- (puiss e, puiss es, puiss e, puiss ions, puiss iez, puiss ent)
• savoir: sach- (sach e, sach es, sach e, sach ions, sach iez, sach ent)

In part, it is thanks to these frequently occurring verbs, the subjunctive present of which is so emphatically different from the indicative present, that the subjunctive mood has been preserved in French.

Four verbs in the above table have a stem ending in -l- (aller, falloir, valoir, and vouloir). Three of them have alternating forms, about which see Part V. Hybrids below. No doubt falloir would too, if it had not become a defective verb.

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III. The One Rule

All other verbs have identical indicative and subjunctive present stems, which makes for considerable overlap of forms, particularly for -er verbs.

Nonetheless it is helpful here to divide (in order subsequently to unite, on the matter of the subjunctive) and to speak of various kinds of regular and irregular verbs. (Regular verbs are those that fit into one of three main patterns, the regular -er, -ir, and -re verbs; irregular verbs are smaller groups of verbs that don’t quite fit any of those principal patterns. For a note on the distinction, see below, Part VI. Who Are You Calling Irregular?)

A. Regular -er Verbs

The largest group of regular verbs (but they are not necessarily the most frequently used) are the -er verbs, which use the same base for almost all ² forms of the verb.

• Infinitive: parl er
• Present tense: parl e, parl es, parl e, parl ons, parl ez, parl ent
• Imperfect tense: parl ais, parl ais, parl ait, etc.
• Simple past: parl ai, parl as, parl a, etc.
• Past participle: parl é
• Present participle: parl ant

The base for the present subjunctive will the same, and can be derived from any of the above forms.

B. Regular -ir and -re Verbs and Irregulars 1

With regular -ir and -re verbs, the present plural forms differ from the present singular forms by adding a sound to the base: an [s], written {ss}, in the case of -ir verbs and a [d] in the case of -re verbs. (The difference for -re verbs is not apparent in the written forms, because the letter d appears in both singular and plural, though it is pronounced only in the plural.)

Infinitive	Present Singular Stem	Present Plural Stem
finir	fini- (+ s, s, t)	finiss- (+ ons, ez, ent)
rendre	[rɑ̃] (+ s, s, t)	[rɑ̃d] (+ s, s, t)

Many irregular verbs are similar to regular -ir and -re verbs in that the present plural forms have an additional consonant sound that is lacking in the present forms. Thus:

Infinitive	Present Singular Stem	Present Plural Stem
conduire	condui- [kõdᶣi] (+ s, s, t)	conduis- [kõdᶣiz] (+ ons, ez, ent)
connaître	connai- [kᴐnɛ]	connaiss- [kᴐnɛs]
craindre	crain- [krɛ̃]	craign- [krɛɲ]
dormir	dor- [dᴐr]	dorm- [dᴐrm]
écrire	écri- [ekri]	écriv- [ekriv]
mettre	me(t)- [mɛ]	mett- [mɛt]
servir	ser- [sɛr]	serv- [sɛrv]

For all these kinds of verbs, regular -ir and -re verbs and a goodly number of irregular verbs, the present subjunctive can be formed using the base of any of the present plural forms. The resulting presence of the additional consonant sound in the singular is a clear marker of the subjunctive. The table below shows contrasting indicative and subjunctive present singular forms.

finir		rendre		conduire
finis finis finit	finisse finisses finisse	rends rends rend	rende rendes rende	conduis conduis conduit	conduise conduises conduise
connaître		craindre		dormir
connais connais connaît	connaisse connaisses connaisse	crains crains craint	craigne craignes craigne	dors dors dort	dorme dormes dorme
écrire		mettre		servir
écris écris écrit	écrive écrives écrive	mets mets met	mette mettes mette	sers sers sert	serve serves serve

C. Irregulars 2

A small but significant group of irregular verbs have not two, but three different bases in the present, typically one base for the singular forms, another for the nous and vous forms, and a third for the ils/elles (3rd person plural) form. For example:

Infinitive	Singular Base	nous & vous Base	ils/elles Base
boire	boi- (+ s s t)	buv- (+ ons ez)	boiv- (+ ent)
devoir	doi–	dev–	doiv–
prendre	pren- [prɑ̃]	pren- [prən]	prenn [prɛn]
recevoir	reçoi-	recev-	reçoiv-
tenir	tien- [tjɛ̃]	ten- [tən]	tienn- [tjɛn]
venir	vien- [vjɛ̃]	ven- [vən]	vienn- [vjɛn]

These verbs use both plural bases, the nous and vous base and the ils/elles base, to form the present subjunctive.

Here is an example using the verb tenir. Colors show what stems are used where,

Indicative Present		Subjunctive Present
Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
je tiens	nous ten ons	je tienn e	nous ten ions
tu tiens	vous ten ez	tu tienn es	vous ten iez
on tient	ils tienn ent	on tienn e	ils tienn ent

D. And Here It Is: the ONE RULE

Irregular verbs of this last kind thus need two of the present indicative plurals to form the subjunctive; regular -ir and -re verbs, and most other irregular verbs, can use any of the three plural forms to form the subjunctive; and regular -er verbs can use any of the six present indicative forms to form the subjunctive. To unite all these kinds of verbs under one rule, I therefore propose the following:

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IV. Confusions

The regular -er verbs are worst for identity of forms between subjunctive and indicative. Present subjunctive persons 1, 2, 3, and 6 look exactly like the corresponding present indicatives; present subjunctives 4 and 5 (nous and vous) are identical to imperfect indicative 4 and 5.

Present Indicative		Present Subjunctive		Imperfect Indicative
parle parles parle	parlons parlez parlent	parle parles parle	parlions parliez parlent	parlais parlais parlait	parlions parliez parlaient

The verbs covered in III.B and III.C (regular -ir and -re verbs and all irregulars other than those in Part II) are better off, in that the singular present subjunctive forms contrast with the singular present indicative forms, but these verbs have exactly the same overlaps as regular -er verbs for the plurals: 4 and 5 look the same as the imperfect indicative, and 6 looks the same as the present indicative.

Present Indicative		Present Subjunctive		Imperfect Indicative
tiens tiens tient	tenons tenez tiennent	tienne tienne tienne	tenions teniez tiennent	tenais tenais tenait	tenions teniez tenaient

Only the verbs covered in Part II above have unmistakable present subjunctive forms, and not even all of them! (See the next section.)

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V. Hybrids

Amongst the verbs described in Part II that have special subjunctive stems not derivable from the indicative, there are four with a present stem ending in l: aller, falloir, valoir, and vouloir. These verbs use their special subjunctive stem only for persons 1, 2, 3, and 6. Persons 4 and 5 are formed the same way as they are for Irregular 2 verbs, using the nous + vous indicative base; in other words, point 1 of the One Rule applies to these verbs:

One can propose an orthographical (and probably ahistorical) reason for this switch: the desire to keep the number of “i”s around the end of the base to just one. The personal endings of subjunctive 4 and 5 include an i (ions, iez); adding it to the i of the palatalized l of the special subjunctive base (ill) would make too many “i”s.

As a result, the i seems to switch places at persons 4 and 5 from before to after the ll. The difference in appearance is slight, but the difference in pronunciation is dramatic: an [aj] in the one instance (reminding English speakers of an English “long i” (as in “time and tide,” “a girl like i“). versus [alj], i.e., a straight [a] sound followed by a “hard” l followed by a yod [j].

Infinitive	je	tu	il	nous	vous	elles
aller	aille	ailles	aille	allions	alliez	aillent
falloir	(faille)	(failles)	faille	(fallions)	(falliez)	(faillent)
valoir	vaille	vailles	vaille	valions	valiez	vaillent
vouloir	veuille	veuilles	veuille	voulions	vouliez	veuillent

The verb falloir is today used only in the third person singular, but if its other persons still existed I wager they would follow the same pattern.

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VI. Who Are You Calling Irregular?

So-called irregular verbs are those that do not adhere unswervingly to the patterns of one of the three principal groups we call “regular.” But it is not true that an irregular verb does not follow any pattern (that is, any “rules,” any regulæ) at all; it has a pattern, similar though not identical to that of one of the three major groups, but with fewer adherents (in a few cases, it is true, only one.)

Furthermore, verbs cannot be classed as regular or irregular simply on the basis of the unicity or plurality of their stems (or bases). As we have seen, some regular verbs (-ir and -re) have more than one base; some irregular verbs (e.g., courir) have only one.

It would seem, consequently, that “regular” does not mean simply “following a rule” (since irregular verbs do follow a rule), but “following the rule of the greatest number.”

Specialists of Old French (the form of the language from approximately 800 to approximately 1300 CE) do not speak of “regular” and “irregular” at all, because the ways in which bases and endings combined was more varied then, and also because a greater number of verbs had more than one base in the plural (like the “Irregular 2” verbs described in III.C above). The reason for the latter variation was the shift in stress: in many verbs, the stress fell on the root syllable in persons 1, 2, 3, and 6, but on the ending in persons 4 and 5. Certain vowels, and certain vowels in certain contexts, developed differently as a result. Compare the Old French and Modern French variants of two very familiar verbs, aimer and trouver:

Infinitive	je	tu	on	nous	vous	elles
OF: amer	aim	aimes	aime	amons	amez	aiment
ModF: aimer	aime	aimes	aime	aimons	aimez	aiment
OF: trover	truis	trueves	trueve	trovons	trovez	truevent
ModF: trouver	trouve	trouves	trouve	trouvons	trouvez	trouvent

Forms in which the root vowel was stressed, and developed accordingly, are called “strong”; here they are in red. Forms in which the root vowel was not stressed, called “weak,” developed another way; here they are yellow-highlighted. A present with with such a pattern of varying bases like this one is called a strong present. The only other tense that could display such a variation was the preterite (the simple past), called in that case a strong preterite. (The set of forms of a given verb as a whole was not called strong, but only the tense in which such a variation occurred.)

Modern French has of course steamrollered such variations away in all but a few cases – which remaining relics we classify as “irregular verbs.”

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VII. Past Subjunctive

The past subjunctive is a compound tense. It looks exactly like the passé composé, except that the auxiliary verb is in the present subjunctive, not the present indicative. E.g.,

• Je ne crois pas qu’il ait dit cela. (I don’t think he said that.)
• Nous regrettons que vous ne soyez pas venus. (We are sorry you didn’t come.)
• Il est possible qu’elles se soient égarées. (It is possible they got lost.)

Here you may compare all the forms of indicative and subjunctive in all the persons.

Indicative	Subjunctive	Indicative	Subjunctive	Indicative	Subjunctive
ai dit	aie dit	suis venu	sois venu	me suis égaré	me sois égaré
as dit	aies dit	es venu	sois venu	t’es  égaré	te sois égaré
a dit	ait dit	est venu	soit venu	s’est égaré	se soit égaré
avons dit	ayons dit	sommes venus	soyons venus	nous sommes égarés	nous soyons égarés
avez dit	ayez dit	êtes venu(s)	soyez venu(s)	vous êtes égaré(s)	vous soyez égaré(s)
ont dit	aient dit	sont venus	soient venus	se sont égarés	se soient égaré

Now, the present subjunctive deals with the present, and the past subjunctive with the past, but that is not the whole story. Present subjunctive covers both the present and the future, and past subjunctive can indicate an occurrence one step into the past, or two steps (the equivalent of the pluperfect). For more on the temporal fluidity of these subjunctive tenses, see this part of my commentary on Chapter 16 in the French for Reading Knowledge course: §82. Subjunctive Mood.

1. Some treat the alternation between i and y as a change of stem, but it is a slight one, and as much as possible I will treat related forms such as ai and ay as being the same.[↩]
2. The only forms with a different base are the future and conditional, which use the infinitive as the base.[↩]

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