Everything You Need To Know About French Conjunctions
Les Conjonctions Francaises
In order for whole sentences to make sense, their different parts must be linked in a logical, meaningful fashion.
This linking role is played by conjonctions — the word literally means joining together — which comes in two different categories: coordinating and subordinating conjunctions.
Coordinating Conjunctions
These link clauses (either words and/or sentence fragments) which are of equal importance.
There are 7 such conjunctions in French: mais / but; ou / or; et / and; donc / thus, therefore; or / but, yet; ni / neither; car / for, because.
There is a mnemonic trick to remembering these, at least in French.
Since some of the conjunctions are homophones of other French words, all you need to remember is the following:
Mais où est donc Ornicar? (But where is thus Ornicar?)
| Conjonctions | Conjunctions |
|---|---|
| Je suis un fan de La Guerre des Étoiles mais je n’aime pas Les Dents de la Mer. | I’m a fan of Star Wars *but* I don’t like Jaws. |
| Il a dû le cacher dans le tiroir ou dans le placard. | He must have hidden it in the drawer *or* in the closet. |
| Elle a reçu des robes et des chaussures comme cadeaux. | She received dresses *and* shoes as gifts. |
| Je pense donc je suis. | I think *therefore* I am. |
| Il m’avait promis qu’il serait là or il n’est pas venu. | He had promised me that he would be here *but* he didn’t come. |
| Elle n’a vu ni Paul ni Pierre. | She saw neither Paul *nor* Pierre. |
| Nous avons eu peur car il ne répondait pas au téléphone. | We were scared *because* he wasn’t picking up the telephone. |
Subordinating Conjunctions
These link a main clause with subordinated/dependent clauses.
You will be able to quickly recognize the majority of them as most incorporate que / that as part of a conjunctive phrase.
The special thing to note is that some of them dictate the use of the specific modes (e.g. indicative, subjunctive or conditional) in the subordinated clause.
Here’s a list of subordinating conjunctions:
Causality**: comme / because; parce que / because; puisque / since; étant donné que / given that; vu que / seeing that; sous prétexte que / under the pretext that (indicative).
Effect**: à tel point que / to the point that; si bien que / so well that; au point que / to the point that; de sorte que / so that; de façon que / in such a way that; si/tellement/tant… que / so much that (indicative).
Simultaneity**: au moment où / at the moment when; en même temps que / at the same time that; pendant que / while; tandis que / while; alors que / while, whereas; lorsque / when; quand / when (indicative).
Anteriority**: avant que / before; jusqu’à ce que / until; en attendant que / while, until (subjunctive).
Posteriority**: après que / after that; dès que / as soon as; aussitôt que / as soon as; une fois que / once (indicative).
*Goal: afin* que / so that; de façon à ce que / in such a way that; de manière que / in such a way that; pour que / so that (subjunctive).
Negative goal (something to be avoided): de peur/crainte que / for fear that (subjunctive).
Comparison**: comme / like; de même que / just as; ainsi que / just as, so as; plus/moins que / more/less than (indicative).
Concession: **quoique / even though; bien que / even though; malgré que / in spite of the fact that (subjunctive).
*Restriction: même* si / even if (indicative ); encore que / even though; en admettant que / assuming that (subjunctive).
Alternative restriction: tandis que / while, whereas; alors que / while, whereas (indicative).
Conditionality: si / if; même si / even if (indicative)**; au cas où / in case that (conditional)**; à condition que / provided that; pourvu que / provided that; à supposer que / assuming that (subjunctive).
Negative *conditionality: à* moins que / unless (subjunctive); sauf si / except if; faute de quoi / failing which (indicative).
Proportionality**: à mesure que / as; chaque fois que / each time that; toutes les fois que / every time that (indicative)
Quoique (even though), the conjunction, should not be confused with quoi que ( whatever the case may be, no matter what), the relative pronoun construct.
| Conjonctions | Conjunctions |
|---|---|
| Ils l’ont choisi pour leur équipe parce qu’il est grand. | They chose him for their team *because* he is tall. |
| Nous l’aidions afin qu’il puisse se remettre de son accident. | We were helping him *so that* he could recover from his accident. |
| Elle se levait tôt de peur qu’elle ne rate son train. | She got up early *for fear that* she might miss her train. |
| Elle regardait la télévision alors que j’attendais en bas. | She was watching television *while* I was waiting downstairs. |
| Si tu ne viens pas, je ne te parlerai plus. | *If* you don’t come, I won’t talk to you anymore. |
| Elle m’a surpris au moment où je m’y attendais le moins. | She surprised me at the moment *when* I least expected it. |
| Le film lui a tellement plu qu’il est retourné le voir plusieurs fois. | He enjoyed the movie *so much that* he went back to see it several times. |
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