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Imperfect and Pluperfect Subjunctive

Although these tenses are not used in speaking, it is possible that they will appear in literature.

The imperfect subjunctive is formed by dropping the final letter of the je form of the passé simple and adding the endings shown in Table 1 .

TABLE 1 The Imperfect Subjunctive

Subject

Ending

-er Verbs

-ir Verbs

-re Verbs

parl ai

fin is

vend is

je

-sse

parl asse

fin isse

vend isse

tu

-sses

parla sses

fin isses

vend isses

il

t

parl ât

fin ît

vend ît

nous

-ssions

parl assions

fin issions

vend issions

vous

-ssiez

parl assiez

fin issiez

vend issiez

ils

-ssent

parl assent

fin issent

vend issent

The pluperfect subjunctive is formed by combining the imperfect subjunctive of the helping verb ( avoir [ eusse, eusses, eût, eussions, eussiez, eussent]) or être [ fusse, fusses, fût, fussions, fussiez, fussent]) + the past participle of the verb denoting the action. The pluperfect subjunctive is used in literature only when the main clause is in any other time but the present:

  • Je ne croyais pas qu'il fût revenu. (I didn't think he had come back.)

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