French Imperfect Subjunctive - Literary tense and mood


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Imparfait du subjonctif

The imperfect subjunctive is a literary verb form, meaning that it’s reserved for formal, written French – mainly literature, but also history and journalism. It is (was) used when a subjunctive-requiring verb or expression had a subordinate clause in the past.

In today’s French, the imperfect subjunctive is replaced by the present subjunctive or past subjunctive, shown here in parentheses. (To its detriment, in my opinion – the use of the present subjunctive in particular lacks a certain nuance that the imperfect subjunctive provided.)

Par exemple…

Je craignais qu’il fût mort. (Je craignais qu’il soit mort.)		I feared he was dead.
Elle voyagea quoiqu’elle n’eût point d’argent. (Elle a voyagé quoiqu’elle n’ait pas eu d’argent.)		She traveled even though she didn’t have any money.
J’ai voulu qu’il choisît. (J’ai voulu qu’il choisisse.)		I wanted him to choose.

Because it’s literary, you don’t need to be able to conjugate the imperfect subjunctive, but you should learn to recognize it, especially if you read classic French literature and poetry.

Imperfect subjunctive conjugations

The imperfect subjunctive endings are the same for all verbs:

Pronoun	Ending
… que je	-sse
… que tu	-sses
… qu’il	-^t
… que nous	-ssions
… que vous	-ssiez
… qu’ils	-ssent

Imperfect subjunctive of –er verbs

All –er verbs, including stem-changing verbs and aller, use the il form of the passé simple as the stem. Because this conjugation ends in a, spelling change verbs require their spelling changes in all conjugations.

	donner > donna-	lever > leva-	aller > alla-	effacer > effaça-	bouger > bouge-
je/j’	donnasse	levasse	allasse	effaçasse	bougeasse
tu	donnasses	levasses	allasses	effaçasses	bougeasses
il	donnât	levât	allât	effaçât	bougeât
nous	donnassions	levassions	allassions	effaçassions	bougeassions
vous	donnassiez	levassiez	allassiez	effaçassiez	bougeassiez
ils	donnassent	levassent	allassent	effaçassent	bougeassent

Imperfect subjunctive of –ir verbs

The imperfect subjunctive stem of all –ir verbs – regular and irregular – is the il form of the passé simple minus the final t.

	choisir > choisi-	partir > parti-	offrir > offri-	avoir > eu-
je/j’	choisisse	partisse	offrisse	eusse
tu	choisisses	partisses	offrisses	eusses
il	choisît	partît	offrît	eût
nous	choisissions	partissions	offrissions	eussions
vous	choisissiez	partissiez	offrissiez	eussiez
ils	choisissent	partissent	offrissent	eussent

Imperfect subjunctive of –re verbs

Again, the imperfect subjunctive stem of all –re verbs is the il form of the passé simple minus the final t.

	battre > batti-	vendre > vendi-	faire > fi-	être > fu-
je	battisse	vendisse	fisse	fusse
tu	battisses	vendisses	fisses	fusses
il	battît	vendît	fît	fût
nous	battissions	vendissions	fissions	fussions
vous	battissiez	vendissiez	fissiez	fussiez
ils	battissent	vendissent	fissent	fussent

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Imperfect Subjunctive