Eek !

The subjunctive - can you believe it!

It's for expressing 💭  wishes, 😋  desires, wants, 😫  fears, doubts, opinions, obligations etc. Represented by our philosopher friend who likes to pontificate about how the world would be a better place if we shared his dreams of utopia. 👼🏽

The subjunctive mood is often brushed under the carpet and avoided because it feels like a stepping stone that's just seems a bit of a stretch. 😳  You're not sure if you can make it without getting wet or worse bashing your shin. 😵

Well you will get wet and you may hurt your ego if grammatical mistakes cause you pain but you can wear a wetsuit and padding and I'll show you some of the less wobbly routes across the water.

Let's start with the good news. Apart from a few of the gangster verbs the endings in the subjunctive mood are always e, es, e, ions, iez, ent.

You add these onto the ils/elles stem (removing the -ent ending) 'they' conjugation of 'normal' verbs in the present tense. That's why knowing the present tense helps you with the other moods and tenses. E.g. 

To eat Manger - They eat - Ils/Elles mangent - stem mang-

Normal version (called indicative mood) 'You eat' - Tu manges

Wish/Want triggers subjunctive - 'I want you to eat it.'

The French would phrase it thus... 'I want that you eat it.'

Je veux que tu le manges. You can't hear the difference between the present tense and the subjunctive mood for the majority of verbs but sometimes you can - and with nous & vous you hear the 'i' sound before the ending -ions & - iez. 

Normal version (called indicative mood) 'You eat' - Vous mangez 

'I want you to eat it.' Je veux que vous le mangiez. 

Et voilà - the subjunctive - it makes you sound Shakespearian when you translate it word for word. It exists in English but many people are not aware they're even using it and often don't use it correctly but that's fine. An example of the subjunctive is, 'It's important that you be here on time'. We use ' you be' instead of 'you are'. Used sparsely in English but used in spadefuls in French! 

'Great fun. Really well prepared and structured. Good materials to help you work at home (videos and notes).' Gary R

'Cecile’s methods of teaching are creative and stimulating. Her sense of humour and attitude puts you at ease. I would highly recommend Cecile as a teacher to anybody who wants to learn whilst enjoying it without it seeming like a chore.' Jason S

What you get:

• Over 5 hours of video in total (you can revisit them as often as you need to) 📹
• Written summaries (you don't even have to lift a pen if you don't want to) 📄
• Practice questions with the answers (to see what you've remembered and where the gaps are) ✍🏾
• French songs (with lyrics and translations - powerful way to learn) 🎶
• Games (to make learning fun - it's not just kids who benefit from playing!) 🎲

The subjunctive is pretty easy to form in French - the hard bit is knowing when to use it - what triggers it. 

Each lesson concentrates on different triggers. Unless you're an absolute genius it will take a bit of practice to learn the triggers and the flow of the subjunctive. Be sure to set your expectations at a challenging but achievable level or you'll be sweeping the subjunctive under that bloomin' mat along with many other people. 

Even if you find it hard to say when you're in the heat of the moment - after doing this course your ears will prick up when you hear it. Words that sounded or looked 👽 alien to you will now have a meaning - Eureka! 

If you wanted to start 🏄🏼‍♂️ surfing you would be ill advised to strap your board on and swim out in 20 metre 🌊 waves 🌊 in Biarritz. Better to start with a bit of instruction from someone who has done a bit first, learn a few techniques, learn what to watch out for and signs that will help you once you're on the water.

Then, once you've had the groundwork you need to get on the water and have a go - many goes. And you will fall in - of course you will. It's the same with tricky French. You may never ride the biggest French waves but you can still have a 💦  splash around and have fun and appreciate other surfers knowing a bit about what they're saying. One day you may catch a few waves and stay standing on your board looking like a pro even if just for a few seconds. 🏄‍♀️  And it'll feel amazing! 

CécileBB :-)