Ch 25 · Lesson 17French · Chapter 25 · Lesson 17 · Grammar primer
Pour partir, avant de partir, après avoir mangé
With one subject, becomes pour, , ; the pronoun goes before the infinitive; takes or + participle.
The short version
becomes pour, becomes
.
Why?Hide
Most conjunctions have an infinitive twin for the same-subject case: becomes pour, becomes , becomes . , not ' '. A few have no twin, , and among them, so with those the subjunctive stays even with one subject.
After doing it is
, .
Why?Hide
needs a perfect infinitive: or plus the past participle, chosen as in the . , . With , the participle agrees: , a . is casual speech; write .
Conjunctions and their infinitive twins
Most subjunctive conjunctions have an infinitive twin for one subject. The twin is not predictable, so learn them as pairs.
| Two subjects | One subject | Example |
|---|---|---|
| | . |
| | . |
| | . |
| | . |
| | . |
| | . |
| | , . |
| | . |
.- I think before I speak..- I think before you speak.
Two of them stand out: takes no , and needs a perfect infinitive (below).
sans le savoir versus sans qu'il le sache
The pair shows the rule at its cleanest.
.- He left without knowing it. (he left, he did not know).- He left without our knowing. (he left, we did not know)
An object pronoun goes straight before the infinitive: , . With a clause it goes before the conjugated verb as usual: .
A negative infinitive keeps together, in front:
| Wrong | Right | English |
|---|---|---|
| . | I'd rather not go. |
| . | She is sorry she can't stay. |
après avoir, après être: the perfect infinitive
points at something already finished, so it takes or + a past participle, chosen as in the passé composé.
| Pattern | Example | English |
|---|---|---|
, . | After eating, he left. | |
, . | After finishing, she watched a film. | |
, . | After arriving, she rang. | |
| reflexive | , . | After getting up, he showered. |
With , the participle agrees with the subject: , because arrived.
With two subjects there is no infinitive: use + the indicative.
, .- After he left, we ate.
is heard in casual speech and survives in , but standard French says .
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