Usage

The past subjunctive form indicates that an action happened before the action of the principal
verb even if the principal verb is in the past tense.

Tu es content: je t'ai montré le temple Tu es content que je t'aie montré le

d'Angkor. temple d'Angkor.

The Sequence of Tenses

1. In spoken language and in simple written language, you use both the present and past
subjunctive forms.

a. The present subjunctive is used to indicate that the action of the subordinate verb
happened at the same time or after the action of the principal verb, even if the
principal verb is in the past tense.

Je suis content: tu prends des vacances.

tu vas prendre des vacances. Je suis content que tu prennes
tu prendras des vacances. des vacances.

b. The past subjunctive form is used to indicate that the action happened before the
action of the principal verb.

2. In written literary language, there are two other tenses: the imperfect subjunctive and the
past-perfect subjunctive (See “Temps et constructions rares” on your Online Study
Center).