Lesson 29: Introducing the Past Subjunctive

Over the last five lessons, you've learned to use the present subjunctive whenever a dependent clause expresses doubt, emotion, necessity, or desire:

But what happens when the action you're doubting, celebrating, or regretting has already taken place? For that, French uses the past subjunctive—the subjonctif passé:

The same expressions that trigger the present subjunctive trigger the past subjunctive. The only difference is timing: the action in the dependent clause is complete.

Good news, VerbMasters! There is nothing new to memorize here. The past subjunctive uses the same two-part structure as the passé composé:

• a conjugated form of avoir or être as the helping verb, and
• the past participle of the action verb.

The only change: the helping verb is conjugated in the present subjunctive—the exact forms you just mastered in Lesson 28:

All the auxiliary rules from the passé composé still apply: most verbs use avoir, while the House of Être verbs and all reflexive verbs use être, with the past participle agreeing with the subject in gender and number:

Choosing between the two subjunctive tenses comes down to one question: has the action in the dependent clause already been completed?

Notice that the choice depends on the timing of the dependent action—not on the tense of the main clause. Even when the main clause is in a past tense, spoken French keeps the same two options: