The widgets above contain 30 second snippets of Je t’emmène au vent by both Feet Peals (2008) and Louise Attaque (1997).
This rampant song was translated back in April. I am going to use some of the lyrics for my first attempt at explaining something about the French language that bothers a lot of native English speakers – the subjunctive.
This is certainly not a lesson – I’m not qualified for that. The intention here is to show that the subjunctive is not such a bizarre concept for native English speakers as we may believe. The hope is that this may help anyone learning French to get a handle on a subject which sometimes twists brains.
There really is very little need to care about the English subjunctive in order to get by in the English language and there are very few situations where failing to use it would make you sound foolish except to the most pedantic of ears. Indeed, live long enough and it may be those pedantic ears themselves who find themselves in the wrong.
In French however, failing to use the subjunctive sticks out like a pig in a disco.
Let’s start with a lyric from the song:
The French subjunctive, the English evasion!
As this example demonstrates, we English speakers are usually able to find a way to use the infinitive in places where a French speaker is lead kicking and screaming wistfully into the subjunctive.
Here is the translation of the lyric using the same grammatical structure as the original and showing how the subjunctive would replace the indicative.
Do check out April’s post on this song – you should find subjunctive examples of ramener, emener, prendre and être. You lucky thing.
Although it is rare for an English speaker to start a sentence with I would like that… as in the example above, it’s not so uncommon to begin a sentence with I would prefer that… which also prepares the sentence for the subjunctive.
In an effort to find an English language song containing an example of the subjunctive, and therefore to maintain the integrity of the title of this post, I searched the web for lyrics containing the phrase “I would prefer that”. Although it took a while to get to any lyrics, I did find that the English subjunctive is alive and well all over the first two pages of Google results.
For example:
On the comments for a YouTube mickey-take of a Britney Spears video, the indicative “takes” would be equally valid, but this person has chosen the gentler-sounding subjunctive:
Sometimes a band writes their own lyrics but in order to express her desire for it, this person has used the subjunctive:
So did I find any English using the subjunctive. Oh yes, but I’d prefer it if I start with an easy one and open up the floor to you guys to suggest some more via the comments box.
It’s possible that the majority of English speakers these days would say instead “If I was a boy”. It would be without ambiguity so given time may become to be considered the more correct way of expressing this thought (if we’re not all speaking Chinese before that happens.)
Even when used “correctly”, there are vastly many more situations in English than there are in French where the subjunctive is identical to its indicative replacement. This surely, and I’m aware that I’m stretching the very limit of my qualifications to comment on this subject, explains why the use of the subjunctive is in decline in English but thrives in French.
I could provide more example lyrics myself but I would prefer that the reader find examples and let me know.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I don’t use the blog above too often, but I have commented about the subjunctive in English on it and I am qualified to speak about it since I have tutored it since high school. First off, English is a syncretic language whereas French is an inflectional language. It used to be more inflectional say 300 years ago, but really, it was still syncretic. We’ve only lost one conjugation since then and that is “thou dost” is no “you do”, but say(subjunctive) 900 years ago, everything in English would have been conjugated as it is in French today.
Moving on, you are correct about the supposed death of the subjunctive that is taking place being caused by the fact that most of it looks like the indicative. This is what happens when a language has no conjugation of verbs except for one verb *to be* and one half of a tense *3rd person singular*.
Here are examples that still must be put in the subjunctive to be grammatically correct or it sticks out like a hang nail. The first set is the formulaic subjunctive:
God bless you.
Be that as it may.
God have mercy.
God be with you.
If truth be told.
If I were you.
Would that it were so.
As it were.
Long live the king.
Till death do us part.
Until all success be nobleness.
If I be allowed to speak.
Far be it from me.
Come what may.
Come summer.
God rest ye merry gentleman
Others:
I ask that everyone not be late.
I pray that you be a better man than I.
I can only hope that he have finished it by then.
In order that he be allowed to run for office, he must be 25.
I did it lest I be killed.
Murder, though it have no tongue, will speak with most miraculous organ (Shakespeare).
Even though she be poor, she will usually donate some money.
It is mandatory that everyone do his own individual work.
It is ordered that they not speak about this.
If she were hanging over a cliff and my hand were the only thing holding her up, I would try to make her let go.
She acts as if she were queen.
If I had time, I would do it.
I’ll do it on one condition: that he have to pay for my trip.
We’ll be rich provided this ticket be a winner.
There you go. You can say it’s fancy English, but it’s not difficult. I know it and say it and teach it, but don’t let anyone know. The word “subjunctive” in English is a pariah.
Hi Nick,
Very interesting, thank you for that.
Even “If I were you” is often spoken as “If I was you”, I suspect it won’t be long before it no longer sounds peculiar.
I brought the subjunctive up again in a recent post – for me, while I was learning French, understanding where we use the subjunctive instinctively in English was very helpful in removing my fear of the French subjunctive!
http://www.greatfrenchsongs.com/2009/10/translation-of-mas-tu-dit-by-les-trois-accords/
Well, I don’t know whether “If I was you” will ever be accepted grammatically because that’s now considered formulaic, which would be the equivalent to saying “God blesses you” after a sneeze.
As for the past subjunctive “were”, which oddly, in Modern English, is the only verb that one can see the difference between the past indicative and past subjunctive, I doubt it will ever be accepted as correct because of where it comes from—old English. Here’s the old English conjugation of “to be”:
iċ wæs (I was) 1st person past indicative
iċ wǣre (I were) 1st person past subjunctive
You can see now where it came from. That’s why it will never die—because teachers won’t let it die like that. Now the present subjunctive doesn’t always match up in Old English—in some persons it does, but oh well. There you go.
I’ve just taken a look at your blog – very interesting – I will certainly be taking a longer look later.
I never write in it anymore, but it will help you for future consideration into that quandary of a subject if you care.
{ 1 trackback }