CEFR B2
What you will learn
- Choose present or past subjunctive according to ongoing, intended or completed action.
- Build the compound form with the right auxiliary and agreement, including future deadlines.
Before you start
- Have studied the stated prerequisites and reconstruct who acts before choosing a form.
The idea
Choose present or past subjunctive according to ongoing, intended or completed action.
The past subjunctive combines present-subjunctive avoir or être with a participle: ait répondu, soient parties. It presents completion relative to a reference point. The main construction still determines mood: Je regrette qu’elle ait refusé does not become indicative because the refusal is known.
The present can refer to the future: Je souhaite qu’elle réponde demain. The past can express completion before a future deadline: Il faut qu’elle ait répondu avant vendredi. Do not classify by yesterday or tomorrow alone: is the action required, or must it already be complete?
A past main clause does not require the imperfect subjunctive in contemporary French: Je souhaitais qu’elle réponde; je regrettais qu’elle ait refusé. Literary tenses are studied separately. Retain participle rules; the new objective is the subordinate action’s temporal status.
Form and relation
| French case | What to preserve |
|---|---|
| Je souhaite qu’il termine demain. | Desired action. |
| Je souhaite qu’il ait terminé avant notre retour. | Completion before our return. |
How it sounds
- Je suis contente que les visiteuses soient arrivées à l’heure.Arrival has already occurred.
- Il faudra que nous ayons terminé avant midi.Completion required before a deadline.
Choose present or past subjunctive according to ongoing, intended or completed action.Another context
Le dépôt est clos depuis hier ; la responsable en regrette la fermeture. Quelle phrase conserve ce fait accompli et la construction du regret ?
« Je souhaitais que Léa vienne le lendemain. » Pour un compte rendu contemporain, quelle lecture respecte la construction sans imposer un temps littéraire ?
Answer available without interaction
Answer: La responsable regrette que le dépôt ait fermé hier. — This alternative is appropriate: «La responsable regrette que le dépôt ait fermé hier.». Earlier closure requires ait fermé; a fermé loses the mood and soit fermé changes action to state with an unsuitable time reference.
Earlier closure requires ait fermé; a fermé loses the mood and soit fermé changes action to state with an unsuitable time reference.
Answer: Vienne exprime la venue souhaitée après ce souhait passé. — This alternative is appropriate: «Vienne exprime la venue souhaitée après ce souhait passé.». Le lendemain places arrival after the past wish; vienne is valid and does not establish actual arrival.
Le lendemain places arrival after the past wish; vienne is valid and does not establish actual arrival.
Build the compound form with the right auxiliary and agreement, including future deadlines.Another context
Le chef constate l’absence des deux techniciennes à 9 h ; elles sont parties à 8 h. La veille, il souhaitait qu’elles restent jusqu’à 10 h. Quelle phrase conserve à la fois son étonnement actuel et son souhait antérieur sans affirmer que ce souhait a été réalisé ?
Nous sommes jeudi. Vendredi à 9 h, l’équipe ouvrira le dossier ; la vérification doit être achevée avant cette ouverture, mais sa date exacte n’est pas fixée. Quelle formulation exprime cette obligation sans affirmer une réalisation déjà constatée ?
Answer available without interaction
Answer: Le chef s’étonne qu’elles soient parties à 8 h ; la veille, il souhaitait qu’elles restent jusqu’à 10 h. — This alternative is appropriate: «Le chef s’étonne qu’elles soient parties à 8 h ; la veille, il souhaitait qu’elles restent jusqu’à 10 h.». Soient parties retains completed departure; restent retains the desired state until 10 without asserting fulfilment. Alternatives reverse wish and fact, move departure to tomorrow or change staying into leaving.
Soient parties retains completed departure; restent retains the desired state until 10 without asserting fulfilment. Alternatives reverse wish and fact, move departure to tomorrow or change staying into leaving.
Answer: Il faut que l’équipe ait vérifié le dossier avant son ouverture vendredi à 9 h. — This alternative is appropriate: «Il faut que l’équipe ait vérifié le dossier avant son ouverture vendredi à 9 h.». Ait vérifié states required completion before opening without fixing the actual verification date. Alternatives reverse the order or assert completed verification.
Ait vérifié states required completion before opening without fixing the actual verification date. Alternatives reverse the order or assert completed verification.
When it doesn't hold
What breaks the rule, said out loud. Hiding it is what makes you feel cheated in the exam.
- Desired action.Je souhaite qu’il termine demain.
- Completion before our return.Je souhaite qu’il ait terminé avant notre retour.
What your own language pushes you to say
Wrong Je suis contente qu’elles aient arrivées.
Right Je suis contente qu’elles soient arrivées.
English have arrived does not determine French arriver’s auxiliary: être.
Combine both decisions
L’équipe n’a pas encore rendu le rapport. Demain à 8 h commence l’examen du dossier. Exprimez l’obligation d’avoir achevé la remise avant cet examen, avec il faut que.
Answer available without interaction
- Choose present or past subjunctive according to ongoing, intended or completed action.
- Build the compound form with the right auxiliary and agreement, including future deadlines.
Answer: Il faut que l’équipe ait rendu le rapport avant l’examen du dossier demain à 8 h.
Submission must be complete before examination. Ait rendu keeps avoir; it does not assert that submission already happened.
Curriculum alignment and sources
- Editorial selection for grammatical control, reformulation and precision. B2.1/B2.2 are internal subdivisions; the CEFR does not prescribe this structure list by school year. · Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Companion Volume
Continue along this corridor
Practise this: The past subjunctive and sequence of tensesThe passé simple: recognising the written narrative pastFrench subjunctive: forms, triggers and contrast with the indicativePast participle agreement: auxiliary, object and position