I don't understand the French subjunctive?!?

Question

I'm supposed to be writing a paper using it and I don't understand it. As long as my sentence begins with "I believe that," any verb that follows should be in the subjunctive even if I say something like "I believe people like TV because..."? Or is it only to be used in the sense of "I believe you should get a dye job because you make an awful blonde"? When there's an implication of "should"?

Answer 1

In the first sentence I would use the present indicative. Only if it were a negative sentence would I use the subjunctive.

In the second one I would use the conditional.

Here is a good link to work through: http://www.staff.city.ac.uk/~ra735/grammar/french/verbs/subjunctive.html

Answer 2

Subjunctive is used with emotion (je suis content que), wish/want (je veux que) , doubt (je doute que), impersonal expressions (il faut que) and phrases of necessity (il est necessare que). So, for your question, you should use subjunctive for both sentences "I believe you should get a dye job because you make an awful blonde," and "I believe people like TV because..."? (Je crois que tu/on ...)

Answer 3

I always thought it was pretty hard to know when to use subjunctive, but once you understnad it it gets a lot easier. Our teacher gave us a really good summary of when to use the subjunctive so I will try to write it down for you:
You use subjanctive if you:
---Explain what you wish or want:
-vouloir que
-exiger que
-aimer (mieux) que
-préférer que
-souhaiter que
-il faut que
-il vaut mieux que
-il est nécessaire que
---Express what you feel:
-avoir peur que
-se pleindre que
-regretter que
-être (mal)heureux que
-être triste que
-être content que
-être surpris que....
---Don't think something:
-ne pas croire que
-ne pas s'imaginer que
-ne pas penser que
-ne pas espérer que
-ne pas trouver que
---There are also some expressions that use subjunctive like:
-c'est dommage que
-c'est une honte que
-il est faux que
-il est naturel que
-il est normal que
-il est important que
-il est mauvais que
-il est (im)possibel que...
-il n'est pas bon que
-il n'est pas juste que...
---These conjunctions unse subjunctive:
-pour que
-afin que
-quoique
-bien que
-sans que
-pourvu que
-avant que
-jusqu'à ce que

If you remember some of these rules and verbs taht use the subjunctive it won't be hard.

So if you look at that list, you see that you don't have to use the subjunctive if you say "I believe that" (Je crois que), but you would have to use it if you said "I don't believe that" (Je ne crois pas que). So in your sentence "I believe you should get a dye job" you have to use subjunctive but not because of the "I believe" but because of the "you should".

Answer 4

It's used when there's an implication of the word should (and obligation).

Answer 5

Have you heard of Hispaniola