French subordinating conjunctions

What is a subordinating conjunction?

You’re probably most familiar with subordinating conjunctions such as et (‘and)’ and ou (‘or’). These are conjunctions which we use to link a main clause with another main clause. You can find out more about these in Lesson 07 of the Complete French Course.

Subordinating conjunctions, on the other hand, are conjunctions which link main clauses to subordinate, or dependent, clauses. Main clauses can exist on their own, but subordinate clauses must depend on a main clause, and subordinating conjunctions are necessary to form that link. Subordinating conjunctions can be placed at the beginning or in the middle of a sentence.

There are simple subordinating conjunctions, such as quand, comme, si, and complex ones, called conjunctional phrases, which are generally built with que, such as avant que, depuis que, etc.

Let’s take a look at a few examples.

Elle prend le bus quand elle est en retard - She takes the bus when she is late

Je prendrai un dessert, même si je n'ai pas très faim - I will have dessert, even though I’m not very hungry

Depuis que nous avons acheté un trampoline, les enfants passent beaucoup plus de temps dehors - Since we bought a trampoline, the children have been spending a lot more time outside.

Please note that some conjunctions such as bien que and pour que require the subjunctivewhile others such as après que and parce que are followed by the indicative.