Introduction to the past subjunctive in French
So you probably know what the subjunctive (subjonctif), namely a tense to indicate uncertainty or doubt. You can also express a similar kind of uncertainty about the past. For this, you use the past subjunctive in French, or subjonctif passé. It is used to express an action or a state that is conjectured and possibly completed, in the past, and which depends on some subjective conditions like doubt, emotion, necessity, uncertainty, or desire. It is formed with the present subjunctive of the auxiliary verbs avoir (to have) or être (to be) (depending on the main verb), followed by the past participle of the verb expressing the action.
Subjonctif passé = present subjunctive of avoir or être + past participle of main verb
For example,
- Il faut que tu aies fini avant midi.
- It’s necessary that you have finished before noon
- Je ne pense pas qu’elle soit venue
- I don’t think that she came.
The difference between the past subjunctif and the present subjunctive is that with the past subjunctif the actions have already been completed. The action lies literally in the past.
Forming the past subjunctive in French
The present subjunctive of avoir and être
| Pronoun (Subject) | Avoir (to have) | Être (to be) |
| Je | aie | sois |
| Tu | aies | sois |
| Il/Elle | ait | soit |
| Nous | ayons | soyons |
| Vous | ayez | soyez |
| Ils/Elles | aient | soient |
The past participle
Forming the past participle (participe passé) is not that difficult. It is a kind of non-conjugated form of a verb. It’s very simple to make for most regular conjugating verbs. Just remove the last two letters and add an “é”, “i” or “u” on it. So for -re verbs you add an “é”, for -ir verbs an “i” and for -re verbs an “u”.
| Regular verbs | Parler (To speak) | Manger (To eat) | Aimer (To love) |
| Past participle | parlé | mangé | aimé |
| Finir (To finish) | Choisir (To choose) | Établir (To establish) | |
| Past participle | fini | choisi | établi |
Learn more on the past participle here
More example sentences with the past subjunctive
- Je suis heureux que tu aies réussi ton examen
- I’m happy that you passed your exam
- Il est triste qu’elle soit partie si tôt
- It’s sad that she left so early
- Je ne pense pas que vous ayez compris le problème
- I don’t think you understood the problem
- Je regrette que tu n’aies pas pu venir
- I regret that you couldn’t come
- Il est possible qu’ils n’aient pas reçu l’invitation
- It’s possible they didn’t receive the invitation
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