📖LearnModule 12 · Lesson 3 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C1, completedUnit 1 · La langue littéraire
L'imparfait du subjonctif
Module 12 of the free French course (CEFR C1, completed), lesson 3 of 30: There is a second tense nobody writes any more. On this page: 8 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's lesson 3.
The words
French
English
Say it
qu'il partît
that he should leave (older written form)
keel pahr-TEE
qu'elle vînt
that she should come (older written form)
kehl VA(n)
l'imparfait du subjonctifmasculine — the article elides to l'
the imperfect subjunctive
la(n)-pahr-feh dew sewb-zhoh(n)k-TEEF
l'accent circonflexemasculine — the article elides to l'
the circumflex
lahk-sah(n) seer-koh(n)-FLEHKS
la prose ancienne
older prose
lah prohz ah(n)-SYEHN
remplacer
to replace
rah(n)-plah-SAY
la plaisanterie
the joke
lah pleh-zah(n)-TREE
désuet
obsolete
day-zew-EH
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
Hear the words
Each word is read twice — say it back in the gap. Computer-generated voice; credits on the course page.
La règle · The rule
There is a second tense nobody writes any more, and you will meet it in older prose: the imparfait du subjonctif. Il fallait qu'il partît. Je craignais qu'elle ne vînt pas.
Et aussi · And also
Recognize the circumflex and the -ât, -ît, -ût endings, translate it as an ordinary subjunctive, and move on. Modern French replaces it with the présent: il fallait qu'il parte. Producing it today reads as a joke, and often is one.
Attention · Watch out
qu'il partît, qu'elle vînt: the circumflex and the -ît, -ât, -ût endings mark the imparfait du subjonctif. Translate it as an ordinary subjunctive and never write it.
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with qu'il partît.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write two sentences of your own that get the watch-out line right, then the two practice pages of workbook lesson 3 in Module 12 are the written half of this page.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The French Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.