# FR: Il n'y a que X qui + mode



## Diddlina

Hi y'all.
I have these two sentences that both have ne..que in them.

Il n'y a que moi qui le (savoir)
AND
Ce n'est que moi qui le (savoir)

What I'm wondering is if there's a rule here. Should I use the subjontif: Sache or the indicatif: Sait

I googled the first sentence and got quite a few hits with both sache and sait so I gather you can choose between. When should you choose which and then what is the different in meaning?

Thank you in advance.


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## yannalan

The simplest would be "je suis le seul à le savoir"
Ortherwise : iL n'ya que moi qui le sais" or "qui le sache " ?
For me , both are correct, the first one being more "certain"but wait for another answer.


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## Maître Capello

D'accord avec Yannalan. Au fait, _ce n'est que moi qui_ relève de la langue parlée…


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## itka

En français hypercorrect : "il n'y a que moi qui le sache", mais on trouve aussi l'indicatif en français parlé.

"Ce n'est que moi qui ..." : ça, je ne l'ai jamais entendu, même pas en français de cuisine !


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## Diddlina

yannalan said:


> The simplest would be "je suis le seul à le savoir"
> Ortherwise : iL n'ya que moi qui le sais" or "qui le sache " ?
> For me , both are correct, the first one being more "certain"but wait for another answer.



Thanks for the suggestion but I cannot change the sentence since this is from a textbook and I'm supposed to choose from the subjonctif and the indicatif.

What about the other sentence? Can I also use both ind. and con. in that one?


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## yannalan

The other sentence is not correct. I agree with Itka


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## Diddlina

I don't understand... That sentence is taken straight from my french textbook... I checked and then rechecked and I've written it down correctly...


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## Maître Capello

Obviously you textbook is not perfect…


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## Diddlina

No obviously....

But now I have no way of knowing which to choose since it a bogus sentence and there's no rule with ne...que.

*sigh*


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## Maître Capello

There is no rule with just _ne…que_. However, as explained by Itka, the subjunctive is more correct when used with _avoir_ (_Il n'y a que XXX qui YYY_) :

_Il n'y a que moi qui sache la vérité._


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## Diddlina

Yes, and I thank him for that. 

I'll just have to guess and ask my teacher.


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## Le Païen

Remember that the subjunctive mood is about *subjectivity*.  ne...que, as a sort of superlative (like seul - je suis le seul qui sache la vérité) properly requires the subjunctive.  BUT if you, as speaker, are expressing a certainty, at least in your not-so-humble opinion, then ne...que slides over to the doubt/no doubt realm of the subjunctive mood - il n'y a que moi qui sais ton secret.  The indicative is about the facts.


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## jann

Le Païen said:
			
		

> ne...que, as a sort of superlative (like seul - je suis le seul qui sache la vérité) properly requires the subjunctive.




That's it, Le Païen has listed the "rule" you need.   The _ne...que_ doesn't required the subjunctive, (nor does it require the indicative - it's just a negation), *but superlatives with que (including statements of uniqueness) do take the subjunctive *(see here, or here).   Thus when _ne...que_ = _le seul que,_ the subjunctive is a natural choice.  

I am not totally sure that you could deliberately choose the indicative instead of the subjunctive to indicate your own personal certainty in these superlative sentences.  I would be interested to hear what the native speakers say.


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## Maître Capello

Le Païen said:


> l n'y a que moi qui sais ton secret.  The indicative is about the facts.


That sentence using the indicative sounds pretty colloquial to me… IMHO, only the subjunctive is correct with _Il n'y a que XXX qui YYY_ → _Il n'y a que moi qui *sache* ton secret_.


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## marget

jann said:


> That's it, Le Païen has listed the "rule" you need.  The _ne...que_ doesn't required the subjunctive, (nor does it require the indicative - it's just a negation), *but superlatives with que (including statements of uniqueness) do take the subjunctive *(see here, or here). Thus when _ne...que_ = _le seul que,_ the subjunctive is a natural choice.
> 
> I am not totally sure that you could deliberately choose the indicative instead of the subjunctive to indicate your own personal certainty in these superlative sentences. I would be interested to hear what the native speakers say.


 
I am not certain that ne... que is a negative expression.  In this context, it actually seems to be a superlative that may well suggest the use of the subjunctive.


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## jann

Hi Marget,

I think we agree on the fundamentals, but are getting tied up in vocab/semantics.  Perhaps I wasn't clear.  I said that _ne...que_ requires the subjunctive when it means "the only one that" because in this case it acts as a superlative with _que_. 

I call _ne...que_ a negation (but not a "negative expression") because it functions grammatically and syntactically as other negations do (compare to _ne...pas _or _ne...point_, for example).  You can even think of it as a negation in its meaning, because it translates directly as "not but," which of course means "only."  But I tried to make it clear that the fact it is a negation has nothing to do with the choice of indicative vs. subjunctive.  

Is that clearer this time?  Sorry for the confusion.


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## marget

jann said:


> Hi Marget,
> 
> I think we agree on the fundamentals, but are getting tied up in vocab/semantics.  Perhaps I wasn't clear.  I said that _ne...que_ requires the subjunctive when it means "the only one that" because in this case it acts as a superlative with _que_.
> 
> I call _ne...que_ a negation (but not a "negative expression") because it functions grammatically and syntactically as other negations do (compare to _ne...pas _or _ne...point_, for example).  You can even think of it as a negation in its meaning, because it translates directly as "not but," which of course means "only."  But I tried to make it clear that the fact it is a negation has nothing to do with the choice of indicative vs. subjunctive.
> 
> Is that clearer this time?  Sorry for the confusion.



Hello Jann

We do agree on the usage.  I think my difference is that I've never considered ne... que to be a true negation.  My reference grammars list it with the negative expressions, but they then refer to it as an expression of "restriction".  However, I do understand your explanation and I appreciate your insight, as do all of us on the forum.  Un grand merci !


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## Icetrance

I believe that both are correct:

_Je suis le seul qui sache la vérité_ (implies either "personal doubt" that you are the only one who knows OR some emotion is being emphasized in the subjunctive (surprise, anxiety, etc)


_Je suis le seul qui sait la vérité_ (just a fact without emotion)

Tout dépend du point de vue du locuteur.


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## geostan

Another vote for _Il n'y a que moi qui sache, _although, as has already been suggested, I would prefer to rephrase the sentence.


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## Icetrance

geostan said:


> Another vote for _Il n'y a que moi qui sache, _although, as has already been suggested, I would prefer to rephrase the sentence.


 

I think this subjunctive is preferred in correct French after this "gallicisme" (Il n'y a que... +), but I think I've heard "Il n'y a que moi qui sait", which is less correct.  However, with "Je suis le seul qui...", the choice is clearly dictated by the speaker's point of view.

Another point I would like to clear up on this thread: The subjunctive does not always imply that there is some sort of doubt on behalf of the speaker.

Example: 

Client: _Vous vendez cette marque de radio?_
Vendeur: _Non, c'est la seule que je vende/que j'aie/que nous ayons/que nous vendions_ (you are sorry that you don't sell this brand of radio)


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