# FR: être désolé que + mode



## PPP

Je suis désolé mais je sois à Paris.

Is this sentence correct please?  Thank you!

*Moderator note: *multiple threads merged to create this one


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## Agnès E.

Bonjour PPP,
Je suis désolée mais il n'y a aucune raison de mettre un subjonctif... 
Non, il faut l'indicatif, ici : *Je suis désolé mais je suis à Paris.*
Tout simplement !


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## DearPrudence

*Je suis désolée que* tu te sois trompée alors   
*Je suis désolée de* devoir te dire que parfois le français n'est pas si compliqué que ça


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## bonne amie

Hi ppp,

'Désolée que' will take subjuctive, however its preferable that both the sentences have different subjects like in the eg *Je* sius désolé que *tu* te sois trompé, here je in the first sentence & tu in the second sentence are are different subjects. In fact my french teacher advises us to use the Subjunctive in only if the subjects are different


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## jann

> So desolé + que does take the subjunctive...thanks for letting me know!


Soyons clairs... 

 First, you must have two different grammatical subjects in the principal and subordinate clauses:
*I* am sorry that *you* failed the exam > _*Je* suis désolée que *tu* aies raté l'examen _(2 subjects, subjunctive)
*I* am sorry that *I* interrupted you > _*Je* suis désolée de t'avoir coupé la parole_ (1 subject, indicative infinitive)

 Second, you need to be sorry about something in a subordinate clause introduced by _that/que_:
I am sorry *that* he isn't here with us this evening > _Je suis désolée *qu*'il ne soit pas là avec nous ce soir. _(subjunctive)
I am sorry, but he isn't here right now > _Je suis désolée, mais il n'est pas là en ce moment._ (indicative)
I am sorry *that* she is sick > J_e suis désolée qu'elle soit malade._ (subj.)
I am sorry to (have to) tell you that she is really very sick > _Je suis désolée de (devoir) vous informer qu'elle est vraiment très malade. _(sorry "to tell you" and not sorry "that xxx" > indicative)

Does that make sense?  Hope it helps


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## WatsJusto

Est-ce que c’est posible de dire en français : “Je suis désolé que je ne puisse pas aller”, je me doute parce qu’il me semble qu’avec  un seul sujet, on n’utilise pas le subjonctif, plutôt l’infinitif, comme ça : « Je suis désolé de ne pas pouvoir aller »  La seconde partie de ma question est si c'est courant (en général) de dire des phrases pareilles : un sujet avec le subjonctif… ? Merci pour votre aide !


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## jann

Good question.  No, you cannot say _je suis désolé que je + subjonctif._   You must use _je suis désolé de + infinitif _instead.  Let me try to explain.  

Obviously you recognize that the expression of emotion in the principal (_je suis désolé que_) is a subjunctive trigger, and this might tempt you to use the subjunctive in the subordinate without further thought.  But actually, when the subject is the same in both clauses, you must switch to the infinitive construction.

The main exception to this rule about switching to an infinitive construction is when the subjunctive in the subordinate was "triggered" by a conjunction that does not have a corresponding prepositional form.  (e.g., conjunctions like _sans que_ and _de peur que_ are followed by the subjunctive when the two subjects are different... but they become the prepositions _sans_ and _de peur de_ and are followed by an infinitive when the two subjects are the same.  However, conjunctions like _bien que_ and _pourvu que_ have no corresponding preposition, so you use the subjunctive in the subordinate even when the subject is the same as the principal).  There is also another exception, and it regards expressions of opinion or declaration (but not emotion) that may trigger the subjunctive: these often allow you the choice between switching to an infinitive and using the subjunctive when the subjects of the principal and the subordinate are the same.


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## WatsJusto

Thanks Jann, I fully understand what you are saying...and I understood it wasn't grammatically sound, I was more curious if it was a frequent error in le français courant, which I'm assuming from your confidence (despite being a non-native speaker of French) that you are quite sure this is not even an accepted construction in spoken, informal French.  Thank you again, I appreciate your input!


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## jann

WatsJusto said:


> I understood it wasn't grammatically sound, I was more curious if it was a frequent error in le français courant,


Just because something is grammatically incorrect (and yes, it is grammatically incorrect) does not mean that you won't come accross it. 

Here, for example, is a thread where an English speaker asked for help understanding just such a sentence that he had received from a French-speaking friend (though whether that friend was a native speaker or not is unknown).  As you can see from the replies (of native French speakers) the infinitive version is needed... and no one even commented on the fact that the incorrect French version used the indicative rather than the subjunctive.

You'll find plenty of other comments on this error out on the web (here, for example).


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## PRaymond

It seems that the sentence should be: Je suis désolé, mais je suis à Paris.
 You would say that to someone who asked you for a favor or to meet him or her in a city other than Paris.


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## caelum

Les conjonctions ne provoquent jamais le subjonctif, ni en français ni en anglais ni en n'importe d'autre langue que je connais.


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## jann

caelum said:


> Les conjonctions ne provoquent jamais le subjonctif, ni en français ni en anglais ni en n'importe d'autre langue que je connais.


I'm afraid that's not quite accurate (example), but that would be the subject for another thread.


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## caelum

Fine, 'et', 'mais', and 'si' never take the subjunctive.


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## jann

caelum said:


> Fine, 'et', 'mais', and 'si' never take the subjunctive.


Oh dear, perhaps we had better not go there either.


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## Maître Capello

I'm afraid you are totally wrong, caelum. _Si_ is indeed normally followed by a verb in the indicative, but it can take the pluperfect subjunctive in some literary contexts as explained in the thread mentioned by Jann.

As to _et_ and _mais_, neither takes a specific mode since they are *coordinating* conjunctions. They therefore simply take the mode required by the first part of the phrase.

_Bien que tu *sois* malade *et* (que tu) ne *puisses* pas venir...
__Je ne voudrais pas que tu *perdes* courage, *mais* que tu *sois* fort._


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## Nino83

On peut dire que les conjonctions de coordination prennent le mode de la phrase avec laquelle elles se coordonnent (parfois).


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