French Imperfect Subjunctive

Imparfait du subjonctif

The French imperfect subjunctive is a literary verb form used in formal writing, such as literature, journalism, and history. Like all literary verb forms, you really only need to be able to recognize it, not use it. It is used in a subordinate clause when the main clause is in the past. Its non-literary equivalents are the present subjunctive and the infinitive.

The imperfect subjunctive of -ER verbs is formed as follows: the third person singular form of the passé simple as the stem + imperfect subjunctive endings.

PARLER
	3rd person singular passé simple	Imperfect subjunctive endings	Imperfect Subjunctive
... que je	parla	-sse	parlasse
... que tu	parla	-sses	parlasses
... qu'il, elle, on	parla	-^t	parlât
... que nous	parla	-ssions	parlassions
... que vous	parla	-ssiez	parlassiez
... qu'ils, elles	parla	-ssent	parlassent

All -ER verbs (including stem-changing verbs and the normally irregular verb aller) are conjugated according to this pattern. Note the irregularity in verbs that end in -ger and -cer:

	MANGER	LANCER
... que je	mangeasse	lançasse
... que tu	mangeasses	lançasses
... qu'il, elle	mangeât	lançât
... que nous	mangeassions	lançassions
... que vous	mangeassiez	lançassiez
... qu'ils, elles	mangeassent	lançassent

Because a g or a c followed by an a would make a hard g or c sound (like in gave or cave), an e has to be added after the g and the c has to change to a ç in the imperfect subjunctive to keep the g soft (like in gel) and the c soft (as in cell). These are known as spelling-change verbs.
 

For -IR verbs, -RE verbs, and irregular verbs, the stem of the imperfect subjunctive is formed as follows: the third person singular form of the passé simple without the final t = stem, to which the imperfect subjunctive endings are added.

		FINIR	RENDRE	AVOIR	VENIR
3rd person sing. passé simple		il finit	il rendit	il eut	il vint
	stem	fini-	rendi-	eu-	vin-
	endings
... que je	-sse	finisse	rendisse	eusse	vinsse
... que tu	-sses	finisses	rendisses	eusses	vinsses
... qu'il, elle, on	-^t	finît	rendît	eût	vînt
... que nous	-ssions	finissions	rendissions	eussions	vinssions
... que vous	-ssiez	finissiez	rendissiez	eussiez	vinssiez
... qu'ils, elles	-ssent	finissent	rendissent	eussent	vinssent

  

Related lessons Literary tenses Subjunctive Past subjunctive Verb timeline Grammar Glossary French Verb Lessons

  

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