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Conjugation
Objective: Maintain grammatical alignment across long paragraphs and shift every subordinate clause to match the anchor of its main clause.
| Subordinate role | Present anchor | Past anchor |
|---|---|---|
| future event | Je pense qu'il viendra. | Je pensais qu'il viendrait. |
| simultaneous event | Je sais qu'il est là. | Je savais qu'il était là. |
| prior event | Je sais qu'il est parti. | Je savais qu'il était parti. |
| subjunctive present | Je doute qu'il vienne. | Je doutais qu'il vînt. |
| subjunctive past |
A past anchor pulls the future of the subordinate clause into the conditional, and the time marker demain shifts to le lendemain.
A present anchor keeps the subordinate future in the future simple, so the conditional would place the action outside the speaker's expectation.
A bare multi-clause fragment: the past anchor of a dit pulls the subordinate future into the conditional.
A temporal clause in the future perfect, ready to be attached to a main clause in the future simple.
Three layers of subordination, all anchored to the past verb a dit.
Three clauses with two anchors: the subjunctive present after bien que, and the future simple after the present anchor of espère.
The si clause anchors the whole sentence in the past, and both result clauses take the past conditional.
7 exercises · about 11 minutes
| Je regrettais qu'il fût parti. |
| conditional after si | Il dit que si j'ai le temps, je viendrai. | Il a dit que si j'avais le temps, je viendrais. |
The si clause never takes the conditional, and coordination with et que cannot undo the anchor of the first clause.
Vouloir que takes the subjunctive regardless of the main clause, so the conditional cannot stand in the subordinate.
The past anchor of il a dit governs every coordinated subordinate, so the present remercie must shift to the imperfect.
The past anchor of a annoncé produces the conditional in the first subordinate and the past conditional in the temporal clause that precedes it.
Two present anchors with different moods: the future simple after pense, and the subjunctive present after doute.
Two coordinated subordinates under present anchors: doute que triggers the subjunctive present, and espère que keeps the future simple.