Advanced Tenses Review: Refine your understanding

In this lesson, we will review advanced tenses in French, namely the Subjunctive, Conditional, and Plus-que-parfait. These tenses allow you to express complex ideas and convey precise meanings in your sentences. By mastering these tenses, you will be able to communicate with increased accuracy and sophistication in French.

Subjunctive

The Subjunctive is used to express doubt, uncertainty, desire, or necessity. It is often found in dependent clauses introduced by certain conjunctions such as "que" or "afin que." Here are the key points to remember:

1. Formation:
   • For regular verbs, take the ils/elles form of the present tense, remove the final "-ent," and add the appropriate endings (-e, -es, -e, -ions, -iez, -ent).
   • For irregular verbs, you need to memorize the irregular stems.
2. Usage:
   • Use the Subjunctive after verbs expressing doubt, uncertainty, desire, or necessity.
   • It is commonly used with expressions like "il est important que," "je veux que," or "je doute que."
   • The Subjunctive is also used in impersonal expressions, commands, and recommendations.
   • Note that there are certain conjunctions and expressions that require the use of the Subjunctive.
3. Examples:
   • Je doute qu'il viennent demain. (I doubt he will come tomorrow)
   • Il faut que tu fasses tes devoirs. (You must do your homework)
   • Je suis contente que vous soyez ici. (I am glad you are here)

Conditional

The Conditional tense is used to express hypothetical situations, wishes, politeness, or less direct requests. It is formed by adding endings to the infinitive form of the verb. Here's what you need to know:

1. Formation:

   • For regular verbs, add the endings (-ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient) to the infinitive.
   • For irregular verbs, the Conditional is formed from the same stem as the future tense, followed by the same endings.

2. Usage:

   • Use the Conditional to express hypothetical situations, wishes, politeness, or less direct requests.
   • It is often used in conditional sentences, introduced by "si" (if).
   • The Conditional can also be used in reported speech to indicate indirect speech.

3. Examples:

   • Si j'avais plus d'argent, je voyagerais davantage. (If I had more money, I would travel more)
   • Je voudrais un café, s'il vous plaît. (I would like a coffee, please)
   • Elle m'a dit qu'elle viendrait demain. (She told me she would come tomorrow)

Plus-que-parfait

The Plus-que-parfait, also known as the Pluperfect, is used to express an action that occurred before another action in the past. It is formed with the auxiliary verb "avoir" or "être" in the Imparfait, followed by the past participle of the main verb. Here are the key points:

1. Formation:

   • For most verbs, use the Imparfait form of "avoir" or "être" as the auxiliary, followed by the past participle of the main verb.
   • The past participle agrees in gender and number with the subject when using the auxiliary "être."

2. Usage:

   • Use the Plus-que-parfait to indicate an action that had occurred before another action in the past.
   • It is commonly used in complex sentences, often with the conjunction "quand" (when) or "après que" (after).
   • The Plus-que-parfait can also be used in reported speech to indicate an action that had taken place before the reported statement.

3. Examples:

   • Quand il est arrivé, je avais déjà mangé. (When he arrived, I had already eaten)
   • Elle est sortie après qu'il soit parti. (She left after he had left)
   • Il m'a dit qu'il avait fini son travail. (He told me he had finished his work)

Summary

In this lesson, we reviewed three advanced tenses in French: Subjunctive, Conditional, and Plus-que-parfait. By understanding their formation and usage, you can enhance your ability to express complex ideas, doubts, desires, and hypothetical situations in French. Practice using these tenses in various sentence structures to refine your understanding and control over the language.