Sometimes the very mention of the French subjunctive produces groans around a room of people. Generally, at parties I would recommend avoiding the topic, just as I would politics, health complaints, money and the details of your last installation of new software. But have you ever explored the English subjunctive? Yes, it exists and lives among us. We average English speakers just don't recognize it. But I think it is an interesting grammar point well worth knowing a little about because the French subjunctive functions in some similar ways.
Over a couple of years I have done some Internet searches on the topic of English subjunctive. I found a very helpful site recently: http://www.ceafinney.com/subjunctive/index.html
I give you a taste of what I found there:
If you have ever said: "Be that as it may..." or "Far be it from me..." or” Come what may..." you have been using the subjunctive case.
Have you ever written or said something like "I wish it were summer," and then corrected yourself to the indicative "I wish it was summer”? Then you have incorrectly corrected yourself. I can remember struggling with this problem in my writing and wondering that, why, any way that I expressed this idea, it just didn't seem right.
The definition of subjunctive at thefreedictionary.com :
Grammar denoting a mood of verbs used when the content of the clause is being doubted, supposed, feared true, etc., rather than being asserted. The rules for its use and the range of meanings it may possess vary considerably from language to language.
Laura Lawless' categorical applications of le subjonctif : Use subjunctive for third person commands, very polite commands, literary, and science and mathematics.
Laura Lawless' illuminating comparative phrases:
A couple of cute third person commands:
Qu'ils mangent de la brioche ! = Let them eat brioche!
Que le bonheur vous sourie. = May happiness smile upon you.
A very polite command:
Veuillez m'excuser de vous déranger. = Please excuse me for interrupting you.
L.L. also gives a list of subjunctive used in fixed commands such as:
Sauve qui peut ! = Save yourselves (if you can)!
There is a wealth of information about the English subjunctive at Wikipedia
I recommend checking out the Table of Forms which takes familiar indicative statements and then categorically illustrates what that sentence would be in a series of subjunctive moods.
Present, past, future, and negative subjunctives are revealed. It is proof that sometimes we native speakers know more than we think we do.
Thanks for that link about the English subjunctive, just last weekend my language partner asked me for examples of the subjunctive in English which required some serious thought! He claimed to rarely if ever use the subjunctive in French but he does - just doesn't notice it.
ReplyDeleteI hope this post helps a lot of people who struggle with the subjunctive in French and don't realize how much we use it in English. It can be quite confusing. But knowing the English subjunctive also gives insight to the purpose of the subjunctive in French... which for me has been rather elusive.
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