How to Use the French Past Subjunctive

The past subjunctive is used for the same reasons as the present subjunctive: to express emotion, doubts, and uncertainty. There is a large variety of situations in which  subjunctive is used, just as there are many different expressions that go along with them. Note that the only difference between the present subjunctive  and the past subjunctive  is tense; usage is the same for both. Construction of the Past Subjunctive The French past subjunctive is a  compound conjugation, which means it has two parts: subjunctive  of the  auxiliary verb  (either  avoir  or  Ãƒ ªtre)past participle  of the main verb Like all French compound conjugations, the past subjunctive may be subject to a grammatical  agreement: When the auxiliary verb is  Ãƒ ªtre, the  past participle  must agree with the subject.When the auxiliary verb is  avoir, the past participle may have to agree with its  direct object. Example 1 Je ne crois pas, quil ait commencà © ce travail. I dont think he started the job yet. Je ne crois pas present tenseil ait subjunctive of  avoircommencà © past participle of commencer Example 2 Il faut que vous soyez partis avant matin. You need to be gone before morning. Il faut que present tensevous soyez subjunctive of  Ãƒ ªtrepartis past participle of partir, in agreement with the subject vous Usage of the Past Subjunctive Le passà © du subjonctif is used to express an uncertain action that supposedly happened before the moment of speaking. We employ it when the verb in the subordinate clause, the verb that follows que, happened before the verb in the main clause. The past subjunctive can be used in a subordinate clause when the main clause is either in the present tense or the past tense. When the Main Clause is in the Present Tense Je suis heureuse que tu sois venu hier. Im happy that you came yesterday.Nous avons peur quil nait  pas mangà ©. Were afraid that he didnt eat. When the Main Clause is in the Past Tense The past subjunctive may be also used in a subordinate clause when the main clause is in the past tense. Note that if the meaning of the main clause did not call for the subjunctive and if the subordinate clause happened before the verb in the main clause, the subordinate clause would have been in plus-que-parfait (the past perfect). (See example below.) For this reason, the subordinate clause should technically be in plus-que-parfait subjonctif (the pluperfect subjunctive), but that is replaced by the past subjunctive in all but the most formal French. An example of main clause—past perfect, subordinate clause—past perfect: Elle savait que je lavais vue. She knew I had seen her. Past subjunctive with main sentence in past tense: Il doutait que vous layez vu. He doubted that you had seen it.Javais peur quils soient tombà ©s.  I was afraid that they had fallen.