On 2008-05-15, curiosity <curiosity> wrote:
> On Wed, 14 May 2008 09:32:06 +0000 (UTC), Andre Majorel
><cheney@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>>A French learner asked me whether "j'espère que" should be
>>followed by the indicative ("j'espère que vous gagnerez") or the
>>subjunctive ("j'espère que vous *gagneriez"). In this case, it's
>>the indicative but a more general answer would be helpful.
>
> André. i'm a bit lost here - as a complete subjunctive novice, I
> thought the 2nd person plural was the same as the imperfect ?
> (gagniez).
Oh **** ! Yes, "j'espère que vous *gagneriez" should have been
"j'espère que vous *gagniez". "Vous gagnieriez" is the
conditional present. Well spotted. My apologies for the
confusion.
The second person plural of the subjunctive present is often as
you say the same as the indicative imperfect but not always. A
quick search in my Bescherelle turns up _faire_ (faisiez, fassiez),
_pouvoir_ (pouviez, puissiez) and _savoir_ (saviez, sachiez).
There are surely others.
> Also you've got the future rather than the present indicative
> (gagnerez).
In English, you use the present after _to hope_ regardless of
whether the action you hope happens is taking place now ("I hope
he's all right") or in the future ("I hope it works out"). In
French, the distinction is preserved ("j'espère qu'il va bien",
"j'espère que ça marchera").
"J'espère que vous gagnez" is grammatically correct but doesn't
make much sense because _gagner_ normally describes an event,
not a process.
--
André Majorel <URL:http://www.teaser.fr/~amajorel/>
"Cette supposition rappelle assez celle de ce prédicateur qui, en
pleine chaire, faisait remarquer à ses fidèles la bonté de Dieu qui
avait placé les rivières auprès des villes." -- Alexandre Dumas
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