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Friday, May 15, 2020
The Subordinate Clause French Grammar Glossary
A subordinate clause, or proposition subordonnà ©e, does not express a complete idea and cannot stand alone. It must occur in a sentence with the main clause and may be introduced by a subordinating conjunction or a relative pronoun. The main clause expresses a complete idea and could normally stand alone (as an independent clause) if it werent for the subordinate clause dependent on it. The subordinate clause is in brackets in the following examples: Jai dit [que jaime] les pommes.I said [that I like] apples.Il a rà ©ussi [parce quil a beaucoup travaillà ©].He succeeded [because he worked a lot].Lhomme [dont je parle habite ici].The man [that Im talking about] lives here. A subordinate clause, also known as une proposition dà ©pendante, or a dependent clause, is one of three types of clauses in French, each of which contains a subject and a verb: the independent clause, the main clause, and the subordinate clause. Subordinating conjunctions join dependent clauses to main clauses, as opposed to coordinating conjunctions, which join words and groups of words of an equal value. Coordinating: Jaime les pommes et les oranges.  I like apples and oranges.Subordinating: Jai dit que jaime les pommes.  I said that I like apples. Subordinating Conjunctions A subordinate clause cannot stand alone because its meaning is incomplete without the main clause. In addition, sometimes the dependent clause has a verb form that cannot stand alone. These are some frequently used French subordinating conjunctions that link the subordinate clause with the main clause: comme  as, sincelorsque  whenpuisque  since, as quand  whenque  thatquoique*  even thoughsi  if *Quoique must be followed by the subjunctive.   Comme tu nes pas prà ªt, jy irai seul.   Since youre not ready, Ill go alone.   Si je suis libre, je tamà ¨nerai à laà ©roport.   If Im free, Ill take you to the airport.   Jai peur quand il voyage.   Im afraid when he travels. Conjunctive Phrases There are also widely used conjunctive phrases that function as subordinating conjunctions. Some of these take a subjunctive verb and some also require the ne explà ©tif, the somewhat literary non-negative ne (without pas). à condition que*  provided thatafin que*  so thatainsi que  just as, so asalors que  while, whereasà mesure que  as (progressively)à moins que**  unlessaprà ¨s que  after, when à supposer que*  assuming thatau cas oà ¹Ã‚  in caseaussità ´t que  as soon asavant que**  beforebien que*  althoughdans lhypothà ¨se oà ¹Ã‚  in the event thatde crainte que**  for fear thatde faà §on que*  in such a way thatde manià ¨re que*  so thatde mà ªme que  just asde peur que** for fear thatdepuis que  sincede sorte que*  so that, in such a way thatdà ¨s que  as soon asen admettant que*  assuming thaten attendant que*  while, untilencore que*  even thoughjusquà ce que*  untilparce que  becausependant que  whilepour que*  so thatpourvu que*  provided thatquand bien mà ªme  even though/ifquoi que*  whatever, no matter whatsans que**  withoutsità ´t que  as soon assupposà © que*  supposingtandis que  while, whereastant que   as long asvu que  seeing as/that *These conjunctions must be followed by the subjunctive, which is only found in subordinate clauses.**These conjunctions require the subjunctive plus ne explà ©tif.    Il travaille pour que vous puissiez manger.   He works so that you can eat.    Jai rà ©ussi à lexamen bien que je naie pas à ©tudià ©.   I passed the test even though I didnt study.   Il est parti parce quil avait peur.   He left because he was afraid.   Jà ©vite quil ne dà ©couvre la raison.   Im avoiding his discovering the reason. Relative Pronouns A French relative pronoun can also link a subordinate (dependent) clause to a main clause. French relative pronouns may replace a subject, direct object, indirect object or preposition. They include, depending on context, que, qui, lequel, dont and oà ¹Ã‚ and generally translate into English as who, whom, that, which, whose, where, or when. But truth be told, there are no exact equivalents for these terms; see the table below for possible translations, according to part of speech. It is important to know that in French, relative pronouns are required, whereas, in English, they are sometimes optional and might be deleted if the sentence is clear without them. Functions and Meanings of Relative Pronouns Pronoun Function(s) Possible Translations Qui SubjectIndirect object (person) who, whatwhich, that, whom Que Direct object whom, what, which, that Lequel Indirect object (thing) what, which, that Dont Object of deIndicates possession of which, from which, thatwhose O Indicates place or time when, where, which, that Additional Resources Subordinating conjunctionsRelative pronounsClausePronounSi clauseConjunctionMain clauseRelative clause
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