the tense of the subjunctive after voulour que

Question

i've read with interest the discussion over what tense the subjunctive should be in, in some of these sentences. It all looks so heavy, especially in the spoken language. I'm pretty sure that in every day French, the French would go with the Present. Interested to hear your thoughts on my opinion, as trust me, a lot of French aren't as well schooled in their language as we are through Lawless French.

Accepted Answer

Hi Anita, 
Interesting point but I can assure you that this is not optional in any way. Using the subjunctive after vouloir que is automatic for French people.
There will be some who won't know what a subjunctive is and why it is used there but that is not a mistake that French people will make, and there are plenty.
You will never hear -
Je veux que tu veins  
but
Je veux tu viennes
Je veux que tu vas 
but
Je veux que tu ailles

Answer

I think Anita was just asking about which tense of the subjunctive would be used.

I'm fairly sure you wouldn't find the imperfect subjunctive being used in the spoken language, the present subjunctive would be used instead. I'm less sure about the past subjunctive, but in a reply to a previous question I had suggested that it might be used in a case corresponding to the pluperfect.

"elle aurait voulu que le chien soit parti" = "she wished that the dog had gone"

Answer

Hi Alan, 
Good point, but all the examples in the lesson are in the subjunctive present.