French Subjunctive, Object Pronouns and Connectors: A 150-Card Study Guide

Deck GU2383 "French Subjunctive, Pronouns & Prepositions" has 150 cards in four blocks. The title names three of them. The fourth block, cards 115-150, is not prepositions. It is 36 conjunctions and connectors, and it is the part that connects the deck back to the subjunctive.

The four blocks

1. Present subjunctive (cards 1-36): parler, finir, all six persons of être and avoir, then faire, aller, pouvoir, vouloir, savoir, prendre, venir, plus four sentences to translate (Il faut que nous partions, Bien qu'il pleuve).
2. Object pronouns (37-86): direct (me, te, le, la, les), indirect (lui, leur), y, en, the order of two pronouns, stressed pronouns (moi, toi, eux, elles), the imperative (Donne-moi !) and past-participle agreement (Je l'ai vue).
3. Prepositions (87-114): à, de, en, dans, par, sous, jusqu'à, depuis, vers, à côté de, loin de, pendant, parmi, selon, malgré, sauf.
4. Connectors (115-150): car, puisque, étant donné que, donc, par conséquent, toutefois, néanmoins, quoique, pourvu que, au cas où, dès que, de sorte que, en outre, par contre, c'est-à-dire.

Cards worth studying first

Tip 1: mark which connectors take the subjunctive

Block 4 doesn't say which mood follows each connector, so add it to the hint field of each card:

• Subjunctive: bien que, quoique, à moins que, pourvu que, avant que, jusqu'à ce que, pour que, and de sorte que when it means "so that" (a purpose).
• Indicative: après que, dès que, pendant que, tandis que, parce que, puisque. Après que is the well-known trap. The rule says indicative (après qu'il est parti), but many native speakers use the subjunctive.
• Conditional: au cas où (au cas où il pleuvrait).

Then make your own cards that join blocks 1 and 4, for example à moins que tu ne viennes or avant que nous fassions.

Tip 2: correct one back

Card 137 translates tandis que as "while, as long as". That second meaning is wrong. Tandis que means "while" or "whereas", for a contrast (Il travaille tandis que je dors). "As long as" is tant que. Edit the back so it doesn't mix up the two.

How to drill the subjunctive

For regular verbs the deck only gives que je, que nous and qu'ils. That is enough, because of this rule: take the ils form of the present indicative (ils finissent), drop -ent, and add -e, -es, -e, -ions, -iez, -ent. Nous and vous look like the imperfect (finissions). So learn cards 1-6 as a pattern, and keep your memory for the true irregulars: être, avoir, faire, aller, pouvoir, savoir and vouloir.

For pronouns, cards 64-69 are the hardest. Say je le lui donne and il y en a out loud until you no longer have to think about the order.

For more French on this blog, read our French idioms and false friends guide and the French B1 vocabulary review.

To start, open Flip It and search for deck code GU2383.