Indicative or subjunctive?

Tom A.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Indicative or subjunctive?

I am looking at this sentence - 'Je passerais beaucoup de temps à prendre soin de lui, en lui parlant, le caressant, lui donnant des friandises - après m'être assuré qu'elles sont adaptées à ses besoins bien sûr !' - and thinking that the verb with 'adaptées' would naturally go into the subjunctive ('soient adaptées'), not the indicative, because the whole scenario is speculative rather than real. Or does this kind of hypothetical writing not normally call for the subjunctive?

Asked 3 years ago
CélineKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Bonjour Tom,

There isn't a subjunctive after "s'assurer que" because it is a verb of action (like vérifier que + verb, contrôler que + verb) and doesn't involve a doubt or hypothesis (like douter que + verb, supposer que + verb).

I hope this is helpful.

Bonne journée !

Indicative or subjunctive?

I am looking at this sentence - 'Je passerais beaucoup de temps à prendre soin de lui, en lui parlant, le caressant, lui donnant des friandises - après m'être assuré qu'elles sont adaptées à ses besoins bien sûr !' - and thinking that the verb with 'adaptées' would naturally go into the subjunctive ('soient adaptées'), not the indicative, because the whole scenario is speculative rather than real. Or does this kind of hypothetical writing not normally call for the subjunctive?

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your French level for FREE

Test your French to the CEFR standard

Find your French level
Clever stuff happening!