On Thu, 15 May 2008 19:22:18 +0000 (UTC), Andre Majorel
<cheney@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>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.
absolutely - yes, I'm always wary of the irregular verbs - in fact I
hesitate (too long usually) with those you've mentioned +
etre/avoir/vouloir etc just to double check.
>
>> 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.
I'm a bit unsure of what you mean there. Couldn't gagner be both to
win (event) or to earn (process). Or have I got the wrong end of the
stick?
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