What's your bête noire of French grammar?

[Neil Coffey]

Dear all,

I'm looking to expand the site's French grammar section so am looking for suggestions of new topics to include. So in a nutshell my question is:

What are the things that you find difficult/confusing about French?!

[Will Sheard]

"ne...pas" means not or no (something)

 

"ne plus" means "no more"/"any more" or "no longer"/"any longer"

 

Examples:

 

Elle n'a pas mangé.

She has not eaten.

Il n'y a pas d'argent dans la valise.

There is no money in the suitcase.

 

Il n'aime plus sa femme.

He no longer loves his wife.

 

Il ne veut plus de fromage.

He doesn't want any more cheese.

[mansi arora]

hiii..i am new to French though i am learning French from Alliance Francais de delhi.
i have my exam on 13th of Nov. and i am still facing difficulty in making sentences.
so can u please help me out by elaborating on tenses that is how to form a sentence, i.e. which verb form will be used in what tense and where should be subject and prefix and few other basic rules of French.
please i'll be very grateful to you...

thanks and regards
MANSI

[Kirsten mbesa]

Hey evryone, am lukin for vocabularies tht will help me write a gud essay abt ma country! Plz assist me wit any gud vocabularies!

[namrata sharma]

small little things like significance of accents,sentence formation,orthographe..these petty things confuse me a lot as i am a beginner!

[Barbara Hicks]

I have difficulty with the subjunctive. I read the section on it here but it didn't really answer my question. I seem to recall that it should follow Il faut que... , je pense que or je crois ..Is that correct? I am a singer and sometimes perform to a French speaking audience . Sometimes I would like to say something about the song I am about to sing ..like "I think this song is very beautiful" and then stop myself for fear of my grammar. Not to mention I will start to say something and then think it requires the subjunctive and realize I don't know how to conjugate the verb in that tense lol.

Can you help me out?

[Neil Coffey]

In general, you don't need the subjunctive with verbs indicating that you're essentially "stating" something: je crois que..., je pense que..., je dirais que... etc all take a normal indicative.

(On the other hand, Il faut que... and various impersonal expressions do take the subjunctive.)

[Barbara Hicks]

Thanks!

[Will Sheard]

Not forgetting, though, that you do need the subjunctive when expressing these things negatively. So, for example:

 

Je ne crois pas qu'il vienne. [subjonctif]

I don't believe he is coming.

 

BUT

 

Je crois qu'il vient. [indicatif]

I believe he is coming.

 

This rule applies to penser and croire.

 

Some expressions do not need to be impersonal, though, to take the subjunctive. Essentially, if you are stating a feeling about something (expressing subjectivity), the embedded clause verb often, though not always, takes the subjunctive:

 

Je regrette qu'elle soit absente.

I am sorry that she is absent.

 

Il est décu qu'elle ne vienne pas.

He is disappointed that she is not coming.

 

Elles ont peur qu'il s'en aille.

They are scared that he is leaving.

 

The subjunctive is also used for expressions of doubt:

 

Elle doute qu'il vienne.

She doubts that he is coming.

 

Il n'est pas certain qu'il l'ait mangé.

It is not certain that he ate it.

 

Where there is no doubt, however, the indicative is used:

 

Elle ne doute pas qu'il viendra.

She doesn't doubt that he will come.

 

Il est certain qu'il l'a mangé.

It is certain that he ate it.

 

Note too that there is no future tense for the subjunctive mood, so sentences can often be translated into English in two ways. The actual interpretation will depend on the context of the conversation or text in which they appear:

 

Elle craint qu'il ne vienne pas.

She fears that he is not coming.

She fears that he will not come.

 

For your purposes, in terms of expressing a positive opinion, Neil is spot on. And practising subjunctive forms out loud with il faut que is a good way of consolidating:

 

(1) the idea that il faut que takes the subjunctive (as does il ne faut pas que, by the way);

(2) the forms of the subjunctive for various verbs.

 

This should mean that when you face an audience, your brain will automatically link il faut que with the subjunctive. Sometimes I catch myself about the use the indicative where I should use the subjunctive, and something in me says: "That sounds wrong!" Getting there takes practice - lots of it!

 

And don't forget that you can use il faut and an infinitive expression as a means of avoiding the subjunctive. This can be especially useful for complicated or little used verbs:

 

Il faut que tu ne mentes pas.

You shouldn't lie.

 

Il ne faut pas mentir.

One shouldn't lie. 

 

In fact, the latter form is more common in both written and spoken French. It is also more impersonal. Remember, French speakers use the pronoun on (one) in places where English speakers now use you (tu/vous). If you try to use you in an impersonal sense, as in English, by saying vous or tu it may come across as impolite.

[Barbara Hicks]

Thanks Will.  I had heard that about using the infinitive but wasn't sure how to use it.  It will come in handy when I don't know what the subjunctive for a verb is!

 

It's all coming back to me now lol

[Peter Wouters]

hm yes... and with all these verbs you would think that espérer should belong in this category as well...? NOT. Expressions like j'espère que... just use the indicatif... :-)

[Thomas Arthur Copeland]

Noun gender!  I dimly recall that there are a few rather unreliable but still interesting rules of thumb involving suffixes, which might be at least a starting point.

[Brad Robinson]

Neil, your French grammar section is amazing.

Well done for the work you are doing, it is invaluable.