confusing correction

[Fereshteh]

I recently wrote the following phrases and they have been corrected by someone claiming to be French. The corrections are in green and in brackets and I don't understand them at all.  Could someone please explain why I should use the present instead of the subjunctive after 'je crois que' and why the imperfect instead of the conditional after 'si' as for amelioré instead of ameliorer???

 

Je crois que je puisse (peux) vous aider à ameliorer(amelioré) votre anglais en apprenant le français moi même. Vous pouvez m’écrire en anglais et je peux corriger vos fautes. Je vous serai reconnaissante si vous (faisiez) feriez la même chose avec mon français.

 

[stu harris]

It's my opinion that your correcter is right about Je crois que je peux, but the other two corrections are rubbish.

Not every occurrence of que demands to be followed by a subjunctive.

[stu harris]

Actually, I've got another one. Je vous serais reconnaissante to agree in tense with si vous feriez...

[Isabelle75Paris]

Je crois que je peux vous aider à améliorer votre anglais en apprenant le français moi même.
Je vous serais reconnaissante si vous faisiez la même chose avec mon français.

This sounds correct to me.

I have changed and put serais rather than serai, so you have some conditional rather than future. Because you have the si ('if') which shows you that it's not future tense. But you won't use some conditional then but some indicative past, so you will have faisiez and not feriez.

For puisse you cannot use some subjunctive there. The fact that you have que before a verb doesn't mean that you will have to use the subjunctive. Sometimes it works but sometimes not, so you have to understand the function of que and the meaning of the sentence. You will have to use the indicative tenses when the action is on its way and when you can situate it in time. Although, I would have use the subjunctive form puisse with the negative sentence (Je ne crois pas que je puisse vous aider)... I suppose it's because the action is uncertain (the person doesn't think she/he can, but nothing is sure). The subjunctive is the tense of doubt, uncertainty and eventuality.

After à it's always the infinitive form ('er' or 'ir' for regular verbs).
Also, be careful: a ≠ à it's not the same function and meaning.

[Neil Coffey]

Don't worry about the amélioré one -- it's just a typo, and your original was correct.

In general, with expressions like I think that..., He said that..., They stated that..., She confirmed that..., where the main verb essentially expresses the notion of "reporting" somebody's words/opinion, the subjunctive isn't used. On the other hand, as Isabelle has mentioned, in the negative (and often the interrogative), the subjunctive would be used with croire/penser (and sometimes other verbs like dire):

Je crois qu'il pourra vous aider
Je ne crois pas qu'il puisse vous aider
Cela veut dire que tu pourras le faire tout seul
Cela ne veut pas dire que tu puisses le faire tu seul

Note that it doesn't have to be an "out-and-out negative" that triggers the subjunctive-- many expressions that "express negativity" would also have a similar effect, e.g.:

Il est peu probable qu'il puisse vous aider

I've mentioned before that a rough test for needing the subjunctive is in cases where you can't "turn the sentence round" in English. That is, if you can transform a sentence in English like this so that the main verb comes at the end of the sentence:

He stated that they were ready. -> "They are ready", he stated.
I tihnk it's too soon. -> It's too soon, I think

then you don't generally need the subjunctive in French. In other cases like this, where turning the sentence round sounds odd in English:

It's not likely that they'll come -> They'll come, it's not likely
I doubt that there's time -> There's time, I doubt

these are the cases where you do often use the subjunctive in French.

In the last of your corrections, you'll sometimes hear the conditional form, but usually only with certain so-called "modal" verbs such as voudriez, pourriez (because the meaning is highly dependent on tense with these verbs). In general, it turns out not to be so common to use the conditional after si in French (even though in English it's common to say things like "if I'd have been there") -- I think your friend is right that faisiez would be more natural.

[Fereshteh]

Thanks everyone. Your answers are very helpful and it looks like I have a lot more to learn on the topic; no doubt I'll be back on this subject but for now I think I understand. Thanks again.