French Subjunctive vs Indicative: How to Choose

Where the two moods compete, one question settles most cases: am I saying this is true? Yes: the indicative. No, because it is wished, doubted or only possible: the subjunctive.

Each pair differs by one word, and the mood follows the meaning. The trigger lists come first on necessity, doubt and emotion and conjunctions; this page is for the pairs.

Assert or not: the one question

The indicative puts a fact forward. The subjunctive leaves it wanted, feared, doubted or merely possible:

• Je sais qu'elle est là. - I know she is here. (I say it is true)
• Je veux qu'elle soit là. - I want her to be here. (I don't say it is)

The same question explains the flip you have met with penser: asserted, indicative; negated, the assertion is gone.

• Je pense qu'il vient. - I think he is coming.
• Je ne pense pas qu'il vienne. - I don't think he is coming.

Espérer or souhaiter?

The most-missed pair, because both feel like wanting it to happen:

Hoping leans towards the event as something you expect. Souhaiter is a verb of will, like vouloir, and wills an outcome that is not real yet.

Do not stretch espérer to its neighbours. The other wanting verbs all take the subjunctive:

• Je veux qu'il vienne. - I want him to come.
• J'aimerais qu'il vienne. - I would like him to come.

How sure? Possible and probable

Here nothing decides the mood but how confident you are. Likely is a claim; possible is not.

The line falls where the claim stops. Add peu to probable and you withdraw the claim, so the mood changes.

An adverb sidesteps the choice: Il viendra probablement. - He will probably come.

Il semble or il me semble?

Two letters change the mood:

• Il me semble qu'il a raison. - It seems to me he is right. (my view, close to je pense)
• Il semble qu'il ait raison. - It seems he is right. (an impression nobody vouches for)

Il semble que usually takes the subjunctive; you will also meet it with the indicative when the writer is sure. With me, te, lui or nous it is a personal view and takes the indicative.

Il paraît que (apparently) passes on a report as fact, so it takes the indicative:

• Il paraît qu'elle est partie. - Apparently she has left.

De sorte que: aim or result

One conjunction, two meanings, and the mood tells the reader which:

An aim is not real yet, so the subjunctive; a result happened, so the indicative. De façon que and de manière que work the same way.

Sought or found: the relative clause

With no trigger word at all, a relative clause can still take the subjunctive: when the thing it describes is only being looked for.

• Je cherche quelqu'un qui sache l'allemand. - I'm looking for someone who knows German. (may not exist)
• Je connais quelqu'un qui sait l'allemand. - I know someone who knows German. (exists)

The same goes after a superlative or le seul. Both have their own pages: the subjunctive in relative clauses and after superlatives.

Mistakes English speakers make

What to do next

1. Say one thing you hope with j'espère que and one you wish with je souhaite que.
2. Rate tomorrow's weather on the scale: il est probable que, then il est possible que.
3. Then read infinitive or subjunctive, where the que clause disappears.