French: the subjunctive, part three

Self-tutoring about French: the tutor mentions formation of the subjunctive.

The following is according to my understanding.

I mention some primary ideas about the subjunctive in my post from April 15, 2026. Typically, present subjunctive is the stem from ils/elles, then with the endings -e, -es, -e, -ions, -iez, or -ent.

With French verbs, irregular ones are often a point of concern for learners. Yet, how is the subjunctive affected by irregularity?

It seems that with five verbs – être, avoir, faire, savoir, and aller – the subjunctive is not predictable. The reason is that, for those verbs, the subjunctive isn’t recognizable from the present indicative ils/elles form of the verb.

Yet, for most verbs, even irregular ones, it seems worth a shot to form the subjunctive from the stem of the ils/elles form of the present indicative, then the appropriate ending.

Source:

Kenney, M., Burville, V., Hickox, B., Hill, J., Potter, C. (1977). Passeport Français 8: Bonne Chance! D.C. Heath Canada Ltd.