le passé du subjonctif

The French past subjunctive (le passé du subjonctif) is used in the same way as the present subjunctive where certain verbs, conjunctions and impersonal expressions require the subjunctive to express wishes, emotions and doubts.

Past subjunctive example sentences

The past subjunctive is a compound tense and is formed by combining the present subjunctive of avoir (to have) or être (to be) with the past participle. The verb in the subordinate (or second) clause is in the past subjunctive and the verb in the main (or first) clause may be in the present or past tense.

Compare:
Je doute que tu comprennes. I doubt you understand. (present subjunctive)
Je doute que tu aies compris. I doubt you understood. (past subjunctive)

Je suis content que tu viennes. I’m happy you’re coming. (present subjunctive)
Je suis content que tu sois venu(e). I’m happy you came. (past subjunctive)

Main clause in present tense

For these first three example sentences, the speaker expresses how they currently feel about an action which may or may not have occurred in the past.

Je doute que tu aies lu l’article. I doubt you read the article.
Je suis ravi que vous soyez venus. I’m delighted you came.
Elle ne pense pas que Martin ait fini ses devoirs. She doesn’t think Martin finished his homework.

Main clause in past tense

For these sentences, the speaker expressions how they felt about an action which may or may or not have occurred.

Je doutais que tu aies lu l’article. I doubted you read the article.
J’ai été ravi que vous soyez venus. I was delighted you came.
Elle n’a pas pensé que Martin ait fini ses devoirs. She didn’t think Martin finished his homework.

Note that the past subjunctive does not apply for verbs which do not require the subjunctive. These sentences use the passé composé.

Je suis certain qu’elle est venue. I’m certain she came.
J’espère que tu as compris la leçon. I hope you understood the lesson.

Past subjunctive conjugation chart

As mentioned, the French past subjunctive is a compound tense. It combines avoir or être as an auxiliary verb conjugated in the present subjunctive with a past participle.

	avoir verb	être verb	reflexive verb
	parler – to speak	aller – to go	se souvenir – to remember
que je/j’	aie parlé	sois allé(e)	me sois souvenu(e
que tu	aies parlé	sois allé(e)	te sois souvenu(e)
qu’il/elle	ait parlé	soit allé(e)	se soit souvenu(e)
que nous	ayons parlé	soyons allé(e)s	nous soyons souvenu(e)s
que vous	ayez parlé	soyez allé(e)(s)	vous soyez souvenu(e)(s)
qu’ils/elles	aient parlé	soient allé(e)s	se soient souvenu(e)s

More verb tenses

French verb lessons

David Issokson Founder & French Teacher at FrenchLearner.com

David Issokson is the founder of FrenchLearner.com, where he’s been helping students master French through vocabulary, grammar, and cultural lessons since 2012.

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