Partons, la mer est belle
Il ne s'attendait pas À y trouver la mort
A sad sea song with a soothing melody. Began as French but now is widely known in French-speaking Canada as well.
Concessive Conditions in Les Liaisons dangereuses
An Elegant Construction Still in Use Today
Examples of the conditionnel concessif from Chloderlos de Laclos’s famous epistolary novel of 1782. Some involve the conditional present introduced by quand (rather than the imperfect indicative introduced by si), and some involve the imperfect subjunctive.
The French Literary Subjunctive: Uses
When an Ordinary Tense Is Not Enough
The things literary subjunctive tenses can do, both their rather unsurprising uses in secondary sequence and their more remarkable ones in conditional sentences.
The French Literary Subjunctive: Formation
Forms You Won't Want To Be Without
Excellent tips for recognizing the imperfect (and the pluperfect) subjunctive.
Indefinite Expressions Using the Subjunctive
When You Need to Cast the Net Widely
Whoever you may be, wherever you may come from, whatever you may do, and however you may do it: such vital indefinite expressions are among the ones presented here.
French Subjunctive, Main Uses
Splendeurs et mystères d'un mode verbal
The uses of the subjunctive in the three kinds of subordinate clauses: noun clauses, adverb clauses, and adjective clauses.
Formation of the Present Subjunctive (and the Past)
One Rule to Govern Them All
The formation of the French present subjunctive, expressed as a Grand Unifying Rule (sort of). Plus: Where did irregular verbs come from? And: formation of the past subjunctive.
The Elusive English Subjunctive
An Overview Almost as Brief as its Matter
A brief look at the use of the subjunctive mood (if any) in contemporary English.
Conjunctions in Groups
French subordinating conjunctions can usefully be grouped according to their function and whether they are followed by a verb in the indicative or the subjunctive. Two kinds of conjunction are followed by the subjunctive; the rest require the subjunctive.
French Concessions
Giving an Inch and Taking a Mile
The various forms of grammatical concession in French: not only concessive clauses, but other kinds of constructions as well.
Imperative Mood
Forms & Environments of the Imperative
Forms of the Imperative; Use with pronoun objects; the Third-Person Imperative; and Yet Other Matters Imperative.
Les enfants s’ennuient le dimanche
Le dimanche, les enfants s’ennuient
A wonderful song expressing the same sentiment as Camus’s Meurseult: Je n’aime pas le dimanche.