# FR: que s'écoulent à jamais les secondes



## snoosnoo

So this is a lyric from a song:

Tombent les nuits à la lueurs de bougies qui fondent
Et que la lumière soit
Passent les heures que s'écoulent à jamais les secondes
Et que la lumière soit 
[...]

I couldn't figure out what this "que" in "Passent les heures que s'écoulent à jamais les secondes" is doing, is it a pronom or a conjonction? Is it correct to translate it into something like: "the hours and the seconds who're fleeing for ever, pass"? Most likely I am wrong. Thanks for helping


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## marget

I believe that "Passent les heures" and "que s'écoulent à jamais les secondes" express indirect commands.  "Let the hours pass" and "Let the seconds go by forever".  

These sentences use the  subjunctive to express indirect commands or exhortations.  Other well-known examples in French would be "Vive le roi" and "Que Dieu vous bénisse."


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## snoosnoo

merci marget, this opens new thoughts, I didn't even think they were subjunctives. however wouldn't there be a "que" before "passent" as well?


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## atcheque

As for me, the comma is missing. Que + subjonctif : May the seconds pass


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## snoosnoo

thank you atcheque for helping, here's another verse that goes pretty much the same, I don't think that "passent" is meant to be subjunctive, but my French is rather basic, so I'm not sure...

Tombent les feuilles et les larmes sur tes joues qui roulent
Et que la lumière soit
Passent les anges et les orages au dessus des foules
Et que la lumière soit


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## marget

Hello snoosnoo,

You don't necessarily need the *que* to express this idea. I think the it can be considered to be implied, as in "Vive le roi". In this song, there are several examples of this usage with and without the *que.  *Even "Tombent les nuits...." is an example.


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## snoosnoo

ah marget, this very puzzling, I thought tombent and passent in the two verses were normal verbs, still couldn't quite see them as imperatives...


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## marget

They are considered to be *indirect* commands. The author is not speaking directly to the hours and saying "Pass, hours!",  or to the seconds saying "Go by, seconds!", etc. throughout the song.  The ideas expressed are "May/Let the hours pass", "May/Let the seconds go by", etc.


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## snoosnoo

thank you marget, you're marvelously patient. so, is it also true with the next verse, the leaves and the tears, the angels and the storms?


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## Oddmania

Hi,

I agree with Marget, the two clauses are independant, not linked with _que_. On the other hand, I take the first one ("Passent les heures") to be an affirmative sentence with a poetic inversion: to me, it means the same as _Les heures passent._ It reminds me a lot of Jean-Jacques Goldman's song _Tournent les violons_.

The second one is definitely an indirect command, as pointed out by Marget.


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## marget

I hope I haven't confused you, snoosnoo.  Oddmania's suggestion of poetic inversion is perfect.  The clauses that begin without *que *can be translated as declarative statements using the indicative mood.

Other examples of poetic inversion might be found in  Guillaume Apollinaire's poem _Le Pont Mirabeau_: "Sous le Pont Mirabeau coule la Seine..."


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## snoosnoo

hi Oddmania, 

the language is very hard to grasp indeed! I incline to think the first one is (les heures passent), as all the other inversions in this song, I'm still having difficulty understanding the (que les second s'écoulent) as in an impressive sentence, by any chance it could be understood as: the hours of which it's seconds are flying and never to return, pass? that is, "que" as a "dont"? that would make things so much easier for my poor brain)


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## snoosnoo

hi marget, I guess this confused state is an inevitable one for a new learner, hopefully not too long an one. I'm OK with all the other    verbs, but my head is still hopelessly turning over on that (que les seconds s'écoulent)...


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## marget

If you consider "Passent les heures" as one verse and then put "Que s'écoulent à jamais les secondes" on a separate line, I think you'll understand it better.

Passent les heures  (The hours pass)
Que s'écoulent à jamais les secondes (May the seconds go by ...)

"Que s'écoulent ...." is an example of the same structure as "Et que la lumière soit."

It seems that the author is following a pattern of respecting a certain number of syllables in each verse, which explains why "que s'écoulent:..." is part of the third verse.


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## snoosnoo

thank you marget, i am still having difficulty to take this que as a subjunctive precursor, but I guess I'll understand better when I have studied further, after all lyrics and poems are fickle and tricky for language learners, so I'll just commit this sentence into my brain and come back to it later.

and thanks for all the help, this is a wonderful forum!


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## Oddmania

snoosnoo said:


> thank you marget, i am still having difficulty to take this que as a subjunctive precursor, but I guess I'll understand better when I have studied further



This is just the way we make indirect commands in French  As in _Qu'on lui coupe la tête !_ ("Off with her head!") from Alice in Wonderland. Try to see it as a short way to say _Je veux que / J'ordonne que / Je souhaite que /_ etc. + subjunctive. In English, it can translate as:

.....- _may_ → Qu'il repose en paix ("*May *he rest in peace").
.....- _let _→ Que la lumière soit ("*Let *there be light").
.....- Ø → Que Dieu nous bénisse ("*God *bless us").
.....- _make _→ Qu'il parle ! ("*Make *him speak!")


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