2

This post is on how to move certain related sentences from the present into the future.

In each of the five cases, the title is the form of the verb in the que-clause.

The question is: whether the second line is the correct future form of the first line.

Any time I have it wrong, please tell me what is the correct future form. If I have it right, but there is an alternative future form, please tell me what that is. Thank you.

  1. indicatif présent

    (1p) Je sais que tu es ici.
    (1f) Je saurai que tu seras ici.

    If you need context, please imagine telling someone to leave the living room light on if he gets home before you do, and saying, "That way, I will know that you are here."

  2. passé composé

    (2p) Je sais que tu as été ici.
    (2f) Je saurai que tu auras été ici.

    Context: Saying to someone to leave the light on as he is leaving if he has been to the house. "That way, I will know that you have been here."

  3. passé simple

    (3p) Je sais que tu fus ici.
    (3f) Je saurai que tu auras été ici.

    Context: same as in 2.

  4. subjonctif présent

    (4p) Je suis heureuse que tu sois ici.
    (4f) Je serai heureuse que tu serais ici.

    Context: Someone doubts that your father will be happy to see him at the house tomorrow. You say, "I will be happy that you are here."

  5. passé subjonctif

    (5p) Je suis heureuse que tu aies été ici.
    (5f) Je serai heureuse que tu aurais été ici.

    Context: You expect that, tomorrow morning during your absence, someone will visit the house to fix something. You will return to the house tomorrow afternoon and see that the work has been done. You say to him now, "I will be happy that you have been to the house."

Improve this question
1
  • IMHO, Je serai heureuse que tu serais ici. is probably not correct. And Je serai heureuse que tu aurais été ici. might be correct, but sounds tordu/bancal again :-)
    – Frank
    Commented Jan 26, 2017 at 17:22

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
3

1) Je saurai que tu es ici.

2) Je saurai que tu as été ici.

3) Je saurai que tu fus ici.

4) Je serai heureuse que tu sois ici.

5) Je serai heureuse que tu aies été ici.

So I couldn't give you a rule, but it looks to me that you shouldn't modify the tense in thhe second part of the sentence.

Edit : the 3) really sounds strange to me ; it might be because of the rare use of passé simple in french, but still, it might even be incorrect. It would take someone with a deeper knowledge of french rules (i'm french, but mathematician and informatician :) ).

Improve this answer
3
  • yes - I'm french too, and sometimes I just give up on the finer points of all those tenses, that we would not use naturally anyway. Catomic is often looking for details that even french speakers might have a hard time with :-)
    – Frank
    Commented Jan 26, 2017 at 20:25
  • @Frank. But this post (my trying to move the que-clause "into the future") would be obviously wrong to any French speaker, no?
    – Catomic
    Commented Jan 27, 2017 at 0:52
  • @Catomic - yes, I think you are right. I think the present in the subordinate is all you need. For a while I hesitated on Je saurai que tu seras ici., but it's most probably wrong. Or, if it exists, the future in the subordinate would refer to something after the (future) even in the principal. I think a general rule could be that the tense in the subordinate is simply relative to the tense in the principal. To be verified.
    – Frank
    Commented Jan 27, 2017 at 1:21

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.