Savoir, the subjunctive and the ne explétif

K. M.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Savoir, the subjunctive and the ne explétif

Bonjour, : "Why is my answer with … "peur qu’ils ne sachent" wrong? Neither the lesson nor the discussion include an example with peur and the "ne explétif".
Asked 6 years ago
Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

Yes, now I see! The "peur" and "que" don't go together as in "de peur que". Hence no ne explétif. 

J'ai peur   qu'ils sachent la vérité. -- Peur belongs to the first part and que to the second. 

Je ne suis pas venu      de peur qu'ils ne me reconnaissent. -- In this example the "peur que" belong together and hence require the ne explétif. 

-- Chris (not a native speaker). 

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

You need to post the entire sentence because what you quoted seems to be correct. "Avoir peur que..." does require both ne-explétif and subjunctif. And "sachent" is undeed the subjonctif présent for the 3rd person plural. 

-- Chris (not a native speaker). 

K. M.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Hi Chris,

« J’ai peur qu’ils ____ la vérité. »

I wrote «ne sachent»  and the correct answer was « sachent.»

Thank you. K

K. M.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Thank you. I never noticed the phrase with the de before (de peur que ne, de crainte que ne.  I’m sure it’s in the lesson but I missed it. 
K. M. asked:View original

Savoir, the subjunctive and the ne explétif

Bonjour, : "Why is my answer with … "peur qu’ils ne sachent" wrong? Neither the lesson nor the discussion include an example with peur and the "ne explétif".

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