What is the present subjunctive and when is it used?

The subjunctive is a 'mood', not to be confused with 'tense' since a mood can have more than one tense. The present form of the subjunctive is the most common in French today; there is also an imperfect subjunctive which is now only rarely seen except in literature and in the third person singular. Let's learn how to form the present subjunctive so that you can recognise it easily and use it accurately yourself. First, take the 3rd person plural form of a verb's present tense conjugation. For example, if we use the verb 'manger' (to eat), this would be ils/elles mangent. Then, you drop the -ent ending to get the stem 'mang-' and to this you add the following endings for the present subjunctive: -e, -es, -e, -ions, -iez, -ent This will give you: mange, manges, mange, mangions, mangiez, mangent Great, so now let's take a look at when it's used. The present subjunctive is used to express a variety of concepts, including Necessity e.g. Il faut que... Order e.g. Il donne l'ordre que… Advice e.g. Il est important que… Doubt e.g. Je doute que… Purpose e.g. Pour que… Value judgement e.g. Il est génial que… Emotion e.g. Je suis content que… Wishes e.g. Je souhaite que… Possibility e.g. Il est possible que… Negation e.g. Je ne crois pas que… It is also triggered by certain utterances such as 'bien que' (although) or 'avant que' (before). As you can see from the examples, it is often anticipated by 'que' in a dependent clause, for which the subject is usually different to the main clause. Now you know the most common usages of the present subjunctive in French and how to use it yourself! The next step is to take a look and try to memorise the present subjunctive conjugations of irregular verbs such as être!