Many situations in French call for the use of the subjunctive mood, a tricky concept for English speakers learning the language. Fortunately, there are some ways of avoiding subjunctives by using an infinitive or another turn of phrase instead. Let's focus on one of these ways in this lesson.

Some subordinating conjunctions that trigger the subjunctive, such as afin que (in order to) and avant que (before), can sometimes change to afin de/avant de + infinitive, as long as the main clause and dependent clause share the same subject.

Let's start with some sentences where the subjunctive is unavoidable. In the example below, we have two different subjects, on (an indeterminate third-person pronoun rendered by the passive voice in English) and les voleurs (the thieves). Both subjects perform different actions: on (they, someone) place crocodiles, and les voleurs (the thieves) pull back. Therefore, we have to keep the subjunctive:

Et selon la légende, on y aurait même installé des crocodiles afin que les voleurs fassent définitivement marche arrière.

And according to the legend, crocodiles might even have been placed there so that the thieves would definitely pull back.

Captions 28-29, Voyage dans Paris Le 17ème arrondissement de Paris

 Play Caption

Likewise, in the following example, we can't change avant que + subjunctive to avant de + infinitive, because we're dealing with two conflicting parties (tu and les humains): 

Croqueur, tu dois partir du zoo avant que les humains ne viennent te chercher.

Croqueur, you have to leave the zoo before the humans come looking for you.

Captions 15-16, Les zooriginaux La rage de Croqueur - Part 4

 Play Caption

Certain fixed, idiomatic expressions like avant qu’il ne soit trop tard (before it’s too late) can't be reworded to avoid the subjunctive either: 

Il nous faut absolument démasquer les coupables avant qu'il ne soit trop tard.

We absolutely must uncover the culprits before it's too late.

Caption 45. Il était une fois: L’Espace - 6. La révolte des robots - Part 7

Now here's an example that can be reworded:

Ensuite on va enlever du feu, rajouter la farine d'un bloc et remuer très rapidement afin que ça ne forme pas de grumeaux.

Then we're going to take [it] off the heat, add the flour in one go, and stir very quickly so that it doesn't form lumps.

Captions 7-9, Asma Le roulé mangue, vanille et fruits de la passion - Part 2

 Play Caption

Here, afin que + subjunctive can be changed to afin de + infinitive because the subject is identical in both the main and dependent clauses. The main subject, on (we, i.e. the cook) is taking food off the heat to avoid a chemical reaction, former des grumeaux (forming lumps). (Technically, ça is the subject of the dependent clause, but the sentence as a whole is describing the action of one person, the cook.) So now we can get rid of the subjunctive and say afin de ne pas former de grumeaux (so as not to form lumps): 

Ensuite on va enlever du feu, rajouter la farine d'un bloc et remuer très rapidement afin de ne pas former de grumeaux.

Then we're going to take [it] off the heat, add the flour in one go, and stir very quickly so as not to form lumps.

Likewise, this example with avant que can be reworded since the subject (nous) is the same in both clauses:

Ne pouvons-nous pas nous reposer un peu, avant que nous arrivions au ciel ?

Can't we rest a little before we arrive at the sky?

Captions 21-22, Piggeldy et Frédéric Le ciel

 Play Caption

Ne pouvons-nous pas nous reposer un peu avant d'arriver au ciel ?

Can't we rest a little before arriving at the sky?

Piggeldy also could have avoided the subjunctive in another way, by using avant + noun: 

Ne pouvons-nous pas nous reposer un peu, avant notre arrivée au ciel ?

Can't we rest a little before our arrival at the sky?

On the flip side, there are some instances where afin de/avant de is preferable to afin que/avant que. Take this sentence:

Avant de conclure, j'aimerais quand même te montrer quelques exemples qui se construisent

Before concluding, I'd still like to show you a few examples that are constructed

Captions 63-64, Français avec Nelly À ou De ? - Part 2

 Play Caption

Although the alternative with avant que + subjunctive is technically correct, it would sound stilted in French:

Avant que je conclue, j'aimerais quand même te montrer quelques exemples…

Before I conclude, I'd still like to show you quelques exemples…

In conclusion, keep these constructions in mind afin d'éviter le subjonctif (in order to avoid the subjunctive). Bon courage and thank you for reading!

In our previous lesson, we discussed the verb dire (to say), which has a few derivatives: médire (to speak ill of), maudire (to curse), redire (to say again), interdire (to forbid, ban), contredire (to contradict), and prédire (to predict). Although these verbs all end in -dire, they don’t necessarily follow the same conjugation patterns as dire (to say). Let’s explore the various meanings and characteristics of these verbs.  

banner5 PLACEHOLDER

Redire (to say again) is the only verb that is conjugated in the exact same way as dire (to say). In other words, it is also irregular in the second-person plural in the present tense of the indicative. So, just as we say vous dites (you say), we say vous redites (you say again). Here is an example of this verb in the infinitive:

Maintenant tu vas me redire quelle couleur c'est.

Now you're going to tell me again what color this is.

Caption 33, Lionel et Automne Lionel retourne à l'école

 Play Caption

If Lionel had used the formal vous (you), this is what the sentence would look like:

Maintenant vous me redites quelle couleur c'est.

Now you tell me again what color this is.

Interestingly, redire doesn’t just mean “to say again.” When used in the idiomatic expression n’avoir rien trouver à redire, redire implies some kind of criticism: “to have nothing bad to say."

La direction de Vélo'v n'a trouvé rien à redire sur ces selles multicolores.

Vélo'v's management has found nothing bad to say about these multicolored seats.

Caption 19, Télé Lyon Métropole Street art: le yarn bombing, c'est quoi?

 Play Caption

Speaking of having bad things to say, we have the verb maudire, which means “to put a curse on somebody,” something that happens a lot in fairy tales:

Elle l'avait maudit aussi longtemps qu'une princesse ne l'aurait autorisé à manger dans son assiette et à dormir dans son lit pendant trois nuits.

She had cursed him for as long as a princess wouldn't allow him to eat off her plate and to sleep in her bed for three nights.

Captions 33-34, Contes de fées Le roi grenouille - Part 2

 Play Caption

Also worth noting is the fact that maudire (to put a curse on somebody) is the only derivative that belongs to the second-group (-ir) verbs, as it models its conjugation on finir (to finish) with the plural endings -issons, -issez, -issent in the present tense: 

Les contes de fées finissent souvent mal quand les sorcières maudissent les princesses.

Fairy tales often end badly when witches put a curse on princesses.

In addition, when placed before a noun, the past participle maudit/maudite works as an adjective, often translating as “damned” in English:

En fait, c'est la faute de cette maudite molaire

Actually, it's the fault of this damned molar

Caption 53, Les zooriginaux La rage de Croqueur - Part 4

 Play Caption

A milder variation of maudire (to put a curse on someone) is médire (to speak ill of someone or to slander). Unlike maudire, médire is conjugated like dire, as in ils disent/ils médisent (they say/they speak ill of), except in the second-person plural. In this case, médire keeps the regular form, vous médisez (you speak ill of)—not "vous médites." Here is a quote from the book Histoire de Marie-Antoinette by Edmont and Jules de Goncourt:

Malin avec le sourire, impitoyable avec l'ironie, il médisait avec le silence.

Clever with a smile, merciless with irony, he slandered with silence.

Moving on to other derivatives, we have interdire (to forbid), contredire (to contradict), and prédire (to predict), which all conjugate like médire (to speak ill of). Let’s start with interdire (to forbid), something that Barbara has trouble understanding in the video below. She is in big trouble for dyeing her hair blond:

Je t'avais interdit de te teindre en blonde.

I had forbidden you to dye your hair blond.

Caption 93, Mère & Fille Tout en couleur

 Play Caption

Interdire often comes in the impersonal phrase il est interdit de (it is forbidden to) + verb:

Aujourd'hui il est interdit de se regrouper.

Today it's forbidden to gather in groups.

Caption 8, Lionel L La pandémie

 Play Caption

You may also come across contredire (to contradict):

Oui. -Monsieur qui est breton ne va pas me contredire. -Hé, c'est pas gagné!

Yes. -The gentleman from Brittany isn't going to contradict me. -Hey, that's not certain!

Caption 63, LCM Recette: Crêpes

 Play Caption

Finally, we have the verb prédire (to predict), which comes up frequently in the world of horoscopes:

Résultat: si un horoscope prédit trois choses...

The result: if a horoscope predicts three things...

Caption 136, Le Monde L’astrologie fonctionne-t-elle ?

 Play Caption

In conclusion, here is a summary of how each of these verbs is conjugated in the vous form:

interdire: vous interdisez (you forbid)
prédire: vous prédisez (you predict)
médire: vous médisez (you speak ill of)

contredire: vous contredisez (you contradict)

redire: vous redites (you say again)

maudire: vous maudissez (you curse)

That's about all that dire and its derivatives have to say. Thank you for reading!