French grammar · Advanced
The French Imperfect Subjunctive: Qu'il Partît, Qu'il Fût
The imperfect subjunctive is the subjunctive of literature: where modern French writes qu'il parte, a nineteenth-century novel writes qu'il partît. It is built on the passé simple stem with the endings -sse, -sses, circumflex plus t, -ssions, -ssiez, -ssent, and outside a few frozen phrases nobody produces it any more.
Il fallait qu'elle partît sur-le-champ.
She had to leave at once.
What it is
Classical French made the subjunctive agree in time with the verb governing it. A main verb in the imperfect or the passé simple pulled the subjunctive back from the present into the imperfect, so il fallait qu'il parte became il fallait qu'il partît. That agreement has been abandoned. What is left is a tense you need to read fluently and will almost never write.
Je craignais qu'il ne vînt trop tard. — I was afraid he'd come too late.
How to spot it
A doubled s before the ending, or a circumflex on the third person singular. Fusse, eût, partît, fît, vinssent are all unmistakable once you have seen a few.
- Il souhaitait que nous restassions. — He wished we would stay.
- Elle attendait qu'il lui écrivît. — She was waiting for him to write to her.
- Bien qu'il fût tard, il travaillait encore. — Although it was late, he was still working.
- Il eût fallu qu'elles vinssent ensemble. — They would have had to come together.
In the third person the circumflex carries everything: qu'il fût against the indicative il fut, qu'il eût against il eut.
Imperfect Subjunctive Quick Reference
The forms you are most likely to meet in print
| Verb | que je / j' | qu'il / qu'elle |
|---|---|---|
| parler | que je parlasse | qu'il parlât |
| finir | que je finisse | qu'il finît |
| être | que je fusse | qu'il fût |
| avoir | que j'eusse | qu'il eût |
| faire | que je fisse | qu'il fît |
| venir | que je vinsse | qu'il vînt |
| prendre | que je prisse | qu'il prît |
| savoir | que je susse | qu'il sût |
| pouvoir | que je pusse | qu'il pût |
| aller | que j'allasse | qu'il allât |
| dire | que je disse | qu'il dît |
| voir | que je visse | qu'il vît |
Common Imperfect Subjunctive Examples in French
Where the imperfect subjunctive turns up:
After a Past Main Verb
- Il fallait qu'elle répondît.
- She had to reply.
- Je voulais qu'il sût la vérité.
- I wanted him to know the truth.
- On craignait qu'ils ne fussent perdus.
- It was feared they were lost.
- Elle ordonna qu'on ouvrît les portes.
- She ordered the doors to be opened.
This is the classical rule at work: a governing verb in the imperfect, the passé simple or the conditional drags the subjunctive back with it.
After Literary Conjunctions
- Bien qu'il fît nuit, ils sortirent.
- Although it was dark, they went out.
- Avant qu'elle ne parlât, il devina tout.
- Before she spoke, he guessed everything.
- Il attendit jusqu'à ce que le train partît.
- He waited until the train left.
- Pour qu'il comprît, elle répéta lentement.
- So that he would understand, she repeated it slowly.
The conjunctions are entirely ordinary. What is archaic is not bien que or pour que but the tense of the verb behind them.
In Hypotheses
- Si j'eusse su, je me fusse tu.
- Had I known, I'd have kept quiet.
- Il eût mieux valu qu'il se taisît.
- It would have been better for him to keep quiet.
- Quand bien même il eût été innocent, on l'aurait condamné.
- Even had he been innocent, he'd have been convicted.
In the older written language these forms could fill both halves of a conditional sentence, standing in for si j'avais su, je me serais tu.
The Forms That Survive
- Ne fût-ce que pour une heure, viens.
- Come, if only for an hour.
- Fût-il ministre, il devrait attendre.
- Even if he were a minister, he'd have to wait.
- Dût-il y passer la nuit, il finira.
- Even if it takes him all night, he'll finish.
- N'eût été son aide, nous aurions échoué.
- Had it not been for her help, we'd have failed.
These four are alive in careful modern writing. They are frozen expressions, and nobody using them is conjugating anything.
How the Forms Are Built
Five points, and the first one does most of the work.
The Stem Comes from the Passé Simple
Take the third person singular of the passé simple, and you have the stem. Il vint gives que je vinsse; il sut gives que je susse. There is no separate list to learn.
Il aurait fallu qu'il vînt.
He would have had to come.
Passé simple in, imperfect subjunctive out.
The Endings Never Vary
Every verb in the language takes -sse, -sses, circumflex plus t, -ssions, -ssiez, -ssent. Only the stem in front of them changes.
Bien qu'ils fussent riches, ils vivaient simplement.
Although they were rich, they lived simply.
One ending set for the whole language.
The Circumflex Is Not Decoration
In the third person singular it is the only thing separating this tense from the passé simple, and dropping it changes the mood of the sentence.
On voulait qu'il fût présent.
They wanted him to be there.
qu'il fût, not qu'il fut.
For -ir Verbs It Hides in Plain Sight
Finir gives que je finisse, que nous finissions, qu'ils finissent — all identical to the present subjunctive. Only the third person singular reveals the tense.
Il fallait que nous finissions avant l'aube.
We had to finish before dawn.
Only qu'il finît shows the difference.
Modern French Uses the Present Instead
The present subjunctive now covers every case, whatever the tense of the main verb. Choosing the imperfect subjunctive today is a stylistic decision, not a grammatical requirement.
Il fallait qu'elle parte tout de suite.
She had to leave straight away.
Same meaning, current register.
Common Mistakes with Imperfect Subjunctive
Incorrect: Il fallait qu'il fut là. — He had to be there.
Correct: Il fallait qu'il fût là. — He had to be there.
In the third person singular the circumflex is what marks the subjunctive. Without it the form is the passé simple, which cannot stand after il fallait que.
Incorrect: Je voulais qu'il vînt me voir hier soir. — I wanted him to come and see me last night.
Correct: Je voulais qu'il vienne me voir hier soir. — I wanted him to come and see me last night.
The sentence is ordinary conversation and the imperfect subjunctive is not. In speech and everyday writing the present subjunctive covers every past main verb.
Incorrect: Bien qu'il fusse fatigué, il continua. — Although he was tired, he carried on.
Correct: Bien qu'il fût fatigué, il continua. — Although he was tired, he carried on.
Fusse belongs to je and tu. The third person is fût, with a circumflex and no doubled s, and the two are not interchangeable.
Incorrect: Ne fusse que pour une heure, reste. — Stay, if only for an hour.
Correct: Ne fût-ce que pour une heure, reste. — Stay, if only for an hour.
The expression is frozen, complete with inversion and hyphen: ne fût-ce que. Neither the person of the verb nor the word order can be adjusted.
The Paradigms
Regular verbs, then the two auxiliaries, then the third person of the irregulars beside the passé simple that produced them.
Regular verbs
The stem is the passé simple stem: parla-, fini-, vendi-. Everything after it is the standard ending set.
| Pronoun | parler | finir | vendre |
|---|---|---|---|
| que je | que je parlasse | que je finisse | que je vendisse |
| que tu | que tu parlasses | que tu finisses | que tu vendisses |
| qu'il / elle / on | qu'il parlât | qu'il finît | qu'il vendît |
| que nous | que nous parlassions | que nous finissions | que nous vendissions |
| que vous | que vous parlassiez | que vous finissiez | que vous vendissiez |
| qu'ils / elles | qu'ils parlassent | qu'ils finissent | qu'ils vendissent |
For finir, five of the six forms are identical to the present subjunctive. Only qu'il finît, with its circumflex, tells you which tense you are reading.
Être and avoir
These two matter more than the rest, because they are also the auxiliaries of the pluperfect subjunctive.
| Pronoun | être | avoir |
|---|---|---|
| que je / j' | que je fusse | que j'eusse |
| que tu | que tu fusses | que tu eusses |
| qu'il / elle / on | qu'il fût | qu'il eût |
| que nous | que nous fussions | que nous eussions |
| que vous | que vous fussiez | que vous eussiez |
| qu'ils / elles | qu'ils fussent | qu'ils eussent |
Qu'il eût compris and qu'elle fût partie are pluperfect subjunctives built on this column, and they are commoner in print than the simple forms.
Irregulars, third person singular
The relationship with the passé simple is mechanical, which makes this column easy to derive rather than memorise.
| Pronoun | passé simple | subjonctif imparfait |
|---|---|---|
| faire | il fit | qu'il fît |
| venir | il vint | qu'il vînt |
| prendre | il prit | qu'il prît |
| savoir | il sut | qu'il sût |
| pouvoir | il put | qu'il pût |
| vouloir | il voulut | qu'il voulût |
| devoir | il dut | qu'il dût |
| voir | il vit | qu'il vît |
Take the passé simple and add a circumflex. That is the whole third person singular of this tense.
What Survives, and What Replaced It
A few of these forms are still written today. Everything else has been taken over by the present subjunctive.
Ne fût-ce que and fût-ce
Meaning if only or even, this is the one imperfect subjunctive a careful writer still produces without archaism.
- Passe me voir, ne fût-ce que cinq minutes.
- Come and see me, if only for five minutes.
- Il refuse toute aide, fût-ce celle de sa famille.
- He refuses all help, even his family's.
The ne here is expletive: it carries no negative sense whatever and has no equivalent in the English.
Fût-il and dût-il for concession
Inverted and with no que, these mean even if he were and even if he had to. They belong to formal writing and to a certain rhetorical register.
- Fût-elle innocente, elle serait soupçonnée.
- Even were she innocent, she'd be suspected.
- Dussions-nous tout perdre, nous refuserions.
- Even were we to lose everything, we'd refuse.
The inversion does the job a conjunction would otherwise do, which is why there is no même si anywhere in the sentence.
What modern French puts in its place
The present subjunctive has absorbed the whole function, regardless of the tense of the governing verb.
- Il fallait qu'elle parte.
- She had to leave.
- Bien qu'il soit tard, il travaillait.
- Although it was late, he was working.
- Je craignais qu'il ne vienne trop tard.
- I was afraid he'd come too late.
No meaning is lost. Sequence of tenses in the subjunctive simply no longer operates in speech or in ordinary prose.
Imperfect Subjunctive FAQs
- What is the imperfect subjunctive in French?
- A literary subjunctive tense used where the governing verb is in a past tense: il fallait qu'il partît rather than the modern il fallait qu'il parte. It is standard in nineteenth-century prose and effectively absent from contemporary speech.
- How do you form the imperfect subjunctive?
- Take the passé simple stem and add -sse, -sses, a circumflex plus t, -ssions, -ssiez, -ssent. Il parla gives que je parlasse and qu'il parlât; il fut gives que je fusse and qu'il fût; il eut gives que j'eusse and qu'il eût.
- Is the imperfect subjunctive still used?
- Only in literature and in a few frozen expressions: ne fût-ce que, fût-il, dût-il, n'eût été. Everywhere else the present subjunctive has taken over, whatever the tense of the main clause.
- What is the difference between qu'il fut and qu'il fût?
- Fut is the passé simple of être and fût is the imperfect subjunctive. They sound alike, so the circumflex is the only written signal, and it is compulsory: il fut roi is a statement, qu'il fût roi depends on something governing it.
- What does ne fût-ce que mean?
- If only, or even just: reste, ne fût-ce que dix minutes means stay, if only for ten minutes. The ne is expletive and carries no negative meaning, and the whole phrase is fixed and cannot be reconjugated.