Conjunctive Phrases

French conjunctive phrases
Share / Tweet / Pin Me!

Locutions conjonctives

Two or more words often join to create a conjunctive phrase, which just means a series of words that acts like a conjunction.

Par exemple…

On mangera maintenant afin que tu partes de bonne heure.   We’ll eat now so that you can leave early.
Bien que je sois fatigué, je vais finir ce travail.   Even though I’m tired, I’m going to finish this work.

 Most conjunctive phrases end in que; the rest in où, si, or même. Regardless, they are all are subordinating conjunctions.

French conjunctive phrases

      Notes
à condition que   provided that *
afin que   so that *
ainsi que   just as, so as  
alors que   while, whereas  
à mesure que   as (progressively)  
à moins que   unless **
après que   after, when ***
à supposer que   assuming that *
au cas où   in case  
au fur et à mesure que   as  
afin que   so that *
au lieu que   rather than *
aussitôt que   as soon as ***
avant que   before **
bien que   although *
c’est-à-dire que   meaning, that is to say  
comme si   as if  
dans la mesure où   inasmuch/insofar as  
dans le cas où      
dans l’hypothèse où   in the event that  
de crainte que   for fear that **
de façon que   in such a way that, so that  
de manière que   so that *
de même que   just as  
de peur que   for fear that **
depuis que   since  
de sorte que   so that, in such a way that *
dès que   as soon as ***
en admettant que   assuming that *
en attendant que   while, until *
en même temps que   at the same time that  
en supposant que   while, until *
encore que   even though *
jusqu’à ce que   until *
même si   even if/though  
parce que   because  
pendant que   while  
plutôt que   rather than *
pour que   so that *
pourvu que   provided that *
quand bien même   even though/if  
quoi que   whatever, no matter what *
sans que   without **
sauf que   except that  
selon que   according to, depending on  
sitôt que   as soon as  
suivant que   according to, depending on  
supposé que   supposing *
tandis que   while, whereas  
tant que   as long as  
une fois que   once ***
vu que   seeing as/that  

Notes

* Requires subjunctive

** Requires subjunctive and triggers ne explétif

*** May require the future

 Related lessons

 Share / Tweet / Pin Me!

French conjunctive phrases

Questions about French?

 Visit the Progress with Lawless French Q+A forum to get help from native French speakers and fellow learners.

More Lawless French

 Subscribe to my twice-weekly newsletter.

Support Lawless French

  This free website is created with love and a great deal of work.

If you love it, please consider making a one-time or monthly donation.

Your support is entirely optional but tremendously appreciated.

3 Responses

  1. Johnny 10 August 2018 / 15:45

    I can learn anything in french except these. I can’t never remember which one to use when I need it. Any tips to learn them?

    • lkl 11 August 2018 / 3:34

      I’d say come up with 2 or 3 sentences for each one, and work on memorizing those.

    • Randy 23 October 2018 / 19:22

      I have the same problem. I think it’s due to the fact that the meanings in English are so similar: I’d be hard pressed to tell you the difference between “although,” “even though,” “whereas,” etc. So, maybe the best approach is the group them by similar meaning, and master one group at a time.

Leave a Reply