Concession: However It Turns Out

English does concession with a suffix. Take a wh- word, bolt -ever on the end, and you are done: whatever, wherever, whoever, however, whichever. The grammar looks after itself and nobody has to think.

French has no -ever, and what it has instead is a set of structures that all mean roughly "it makes no difference which", all take the subjunctive, and all look enough like each other to be confused. This page sorts them out, and it ends with the spelling that A-level examiners like best: against .

The mood, at least, is never in doubt. A concession clause names a range of possibilities in order to say that the outcome is the same across all of them. Nothing in it is asserted. That is the subjunctive's job description, and the conjunctions page already establishes it for ; everything here is the same instinct applied to a different set of words.

The whatever system at a glance

French	English	Standing in for
+ subjunctive	whatever	an object or a thing
+ subjunctive	wherever	a place
+ subjunctive	whoever	a person
()(s) + être	whatever, whichever	a noun after
/ / pour + adj +	however (+ adjective)	a degree
... () ...	whether ... or ...	two alternatives

quoi que: whatever

replaces a thing in the clause, usually the object of the verb.

, soutiendrai. (Whatever you do, I will back you.)
' arrive, . (Whatever happens, I will stay.)
, décision . (Whatever you think about it, the decision is made.)

' arrive and ' (be that as it may) are worth learning as fixed units; both are extremely common in written French and both are useful in an essay.

où que: wherever

, . (Wherever you go, I will find you.)
' , . (Wherever they are, they are safe.)

D' does the "from wherever" version: d' ' , .

There is no matching whenever. Do not build one. French uses , à n' moment, or with the indicative when the sense is repetition.

qui que: whoever

, . (Whoever you are, you have to wait.)
, s'. (Whoever did that must apologise.)

on its own means "anyone at all": n' à (I have not mentioned it to a soul). Its object twin is , "anything at all".

quel que: the one that agrees

This is the structure most likely to cost you a mark, because here is an adjective and it agrees with a noun that has not appeared yet. The shape is always plus plus the noun.

, l'. (Whatever the price, I will buy it.)
Quelle , n' excuse. (Whatever the reason, it is not an excuse.)
, . (Whatever the results, we will carry on.)
Quelles , . (Whatever the difficulties, she will succeed.)

Both halves move: agrees with the noun, and so does the verb, giving for a singular and for a plural. Write the noun first, then go back and fix the two words in front of it.

And note the spelling. is two words when it is followed by a verb; is one word when it means "some", as in . Quelque soit le prix is wrong.

si, aussi, pour + adjective: however

For "however" plus an adjective, French offers three near-identical patterns, all with and all subjunctive.

, . (However difficult it is, we have to do it.)
' , n' . (However rich he is, he is not happy.)
Pour intelligent ' , . (However clever he is, he is often wrong.)

is the everyday one, is neutral, pour is the most formal. Note that this has nothing to do with the conditional , and the golden rule does not apply to it.

One relative of these behaves differently and is worth knowing so it does not look like an error: plus adjective plus prefers the indicative. ' , n' . The reason is that concedes the quality as a fact rather than entertaining it.

If the "however" attaches to a quantity rather than to an adjective, use plus the noun: efforts ' , n'y (however hard he tries).

que ... ou ...: whether or not

The bare version handles alternatives, and it needs no other word at all.

' , à . (Whether he comes or not, we will leave at eight.)
' pleuve ' , match . (Rain or shine, the match will go ahead.)
d' , c' décidé. (Whether you agree or not, it is decided.)

Notice that the second is repeated when a whole second clause follows, but and need nothing after them.

quoique versus quoi que

Now the trap. Two spellings, both subjunctive, and no help from the mood.

(one word) = although, a synonym of .
(two words) = whatever, standing in for a thing in the clause.
Quoiqu' , n' . (Although he is rich, he is not happy.)
' , . (Whatever he does, he fails.)

The test that always works: try replacing it with . If the sentence still means what you intended, it is one word. If it collapses because the clause is missing an object, it is two.

A second clue is the clause itself. After , the verb has a gap where its object should be: ' has nothing after because is it. After , the clause is complete: quoiqu' is missing nothing.

Worked examples

, d'. (Whatever you say, I will not change my mind.)
, . (Wherever we go, it rains.)
Quelles conséquences, . (Whatever the consequences, I will tell the truth.) - feminine plural noun, so both words move.
, d' . (However tired you are, finish this job first.)
' d' , décision . (Whether she agrees or not, the decision is made.)
, . (Although we are tired, we will carry on.) - concession, one word.
' , . (Be that as it may, we have to act.) - a fixed phrase worth having.

Common mistakes English speakers make

The first error is the agreement. Quel que soit les résultats and quelque soit la raison are both wrong in two different ways: must agree with the noun and must be two words.

The second is confusing and . Learn the bien que test, and apply it every time rather than trusting the shape of the sentence.

The third is inventing for "whenever". There is no such structure; use or .

The fourth is putting an indicative in a concession clause. Quoi que tu fais and où que tu vas are among the most visible errors an A-level script can contain, because the whole construction exists to mark non-assertion.

The fifth is over-reading the in as a conditional. It is not: it means "however", and the subjunctive after it is required rather than forbidden.

Finally, do not build ' on the pattern of the others. This one takes the indicative, ' , which is odd, is correct, and is worth remembering precisely because it looks wrong.

The subjunctive after conjunctions - bien que, the concession conjunction quoique is a synonym of, and the rest of the fixed list.
The present subjunctive formation - the forms of faire, aller and être these clauses live on.
Subjunctive or indicative - the assertion test that explains why concession is subjunctive territory.
Interrogative quel and lequel - the agreeing quel that turns up again in quel que soit.
si clauses - the other si, and why its golden rule does not touch si difficile que ce soit.
The French grammar cheatsheet - the whole grammar map at a glance.

Practise: test yourself

Fill in the blank

0/10

Complete each concession clause with the subjunctive of the verb in brackets. Two of these need the agreement on quel rather than a verb form.

Quoi que tu , je te soutiendrai. (faire) (present subjunctive of faire, tu)
Où que tu , je te trouverai. (aller) (present subjunctive of aller, tu)
Qui que vous , vous devez attendre. (être) (present subjunctive of être, vous)
que soit le prix, je l'achèterai. (quel, before le prix) (masculine singular, like prix)
que soit la raison, ce n'est pas une excuse. (quel, before la raison) (feminine singular, like raison)
Quels que les résultats, nous continuerons. (être) (the verb agrees with the plural noun)
Si difficile que ce , il faut le faire. (être) (si plus adjective plus que, subjunctive)
Quoi qu'il , je resterai. (arriver) (whatever happens)
Qu'il ou non, nous partirons à huit heures. (venir) (whether he comes or not)
Aussi riche qu'il , il n'est pas heureux. (être) (however rich he is)

Pick the right one

0/6

Choose between the one-word quoique, meaning although, and the two-word quoi que, meaning whatever. Try replacing it with bien que: if that works, it is one word.

tu fasses, je te soutiendrai.
il soit riche, il n'est pas heureux.
il arrive, ne bouge pas.
nous soyons fatigués, nous continuerons.
vous en pensiez, la décision est prise.
le problème soit difficile, il a une solution.

Translation drill

0/10

Translate into French. Every one of these needs a subjunctive, and two of them need quel to agree with a noun that has not arrived yet. Mind the diacritics.

Whatever you do, I will back you.
Wherever you go, I will find you.
Whoever you are, you have to wait.
Whatever the price, I will buy it.
Whatever the reason, it is not an excuse.
Whatever happens, I will stay.
Whether he comes or not, we will leave at eight.
However difficult it is, we have to do it.
However rich he is, he is not happy.
Although he is rich, he is not happy.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between quoique and quoi que?

One word, quoique, means although and is a straight synonym of bien que: quoiqu'il soit riche, il n'est pas heureux (although he is rich, he is not happy). Two words, quoi que, means whatever and stands in for a noun in the clause: quoi que tu fasses, je te soutiendrai (whatever you do, I will back you). Both take the subjunctive, so the mood will not save you; the test is whether you can replace it with bien que, in which case it is one word, or with whatever, in which case it is two.

Why is it quel que soit le prix and not quelque soit le prix?

Because quel here is an adjective and it agrees with the noun that follows the verb. The structure is quel que plus être plus a noun, and the four forms are quel que soit le prix, quelle que soit la raison, quels que soient les résultats, quelles que soient les difficultés. Note that the verb agrees too, so a plural noun gives soient. Quelque written as one word is a different animal altogether, meaning some or, in the literary structure quelque riche qu'il soit, however.

How do you say wherever, whoever and whenever in French?

Wherever is où que plus the subjunctive: où que tu ailles, je te trouverai. Whoever is qui que: qui que vous soyez, vous devez attendre, and the fixed phrase qui que ce soit means anybody at all. Whenever has no matching form, so French uses a different route: quand vous voudrez, à n'importe quel moment, or chaque fois que with the indicative for the repeated sense. Do not try to build an ou que on the model of the others.

How do you say however plus an adjective?

With si, aussi or pour plus the adjective plus que plus the subjunctive: si difficile que ce soit, aussi riche qu'il soit, pour intelligent qu'il soit. All three mean however difficult, however rich, however clever, and si is the everyday one. There is also tout plus adjective plus que, which unusually prefers the indicative: tout riche qu'il est. If the however applies to an adverb or a quantity instead, use quelque plus the number: quelques efforts qu'il fasse.

Why do concession clauses take the subjunctive?

Because they are the clearest case in the language of not asserting anything. When you write quoi que tu fasses, you are not claiming that any particular thing will be done; you are naming a whole range of possibilities in order to say that the outcome is the same across all of them. Nothing in the clause is being put forward as true, which is exactly what the subjunctive is for. That is also why the concession conjunctions bien que and quoique take it, and why the indicative in one of these clauses reads as a straightforward error rather than a stylistic variant.