French subjunctive
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The subjunctive is one of the moods an French verb can have. It's a relic from Latin that doesn't really change the meaning of a sentence, but absolutely has to be used on some occasions. I'll explain which occasions further down.
The subjunctive has different tenses, just like the Indicative (normal mood). Fortunately, however, all but the subjunctive of the present tense have become so literary and unused that even most Frenchmen wouldn't recognise them.
How to form the French subjunctive (present tense)
The French subjunctive is formed very regularly. The basis for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd person singular, as well as the 3rd person plural, is the 3rd person plural of the normal present tense. Let's take "regarder", "finir" and "venir" as examples. The 3rd person plural of the present tense is "regardent" / "finissent" / "viennent". Now, you have to substract the -ent in order to get the word stem: "regard-" / "finiss-" / "vienn-". Then, add the subjunctive endings:
je regard-e / je finiss-e / je vienn-e
tu regard-es / tu finiss-es / tu vienn-es
il regard-e / il finiss-e / il vienn-e
-
-
ils regard-ent / ils finiss-ent / ils vienn-ent
For the two missing persons, the 1st and 2nd person plural, you need to take the 1st person plural (normal present tense) as a basis in order to avoid problems with verbs that have two plural stems, like the verb "venir".
In the example, it is "regardons" / "finissons" / "venons". Substract the -ons in order to get the word stem: "regard-" / "finiss-" / "ven-". Then, add the subjonctive endings:
nous regard-ions / nous finiss-ions / nous ven-ions
vous regard-iez / vous finiss-iez / vous ven-iez
As you can see, the subjunctive is almost the same as the indicative for verbs in -er, but for those pesky verbs ending in -re or -ir, it can be quite different. However, if you know your present tense forms well, you shouldn't have any problems forming the subjunctive.
There are just a handful of irregular verbs:
1) être: je sois, tu sois, il soit, nous soyons, vous soyez, ils soient
2) avoir: j'aie, tu aies, il ait, nous ayons, vous ayez, ils aient
3) The following verbs form the subjunctive in an irregular way, i.e. not based on the 3rd person plural, but use the same endings as normal verbs (everything based on the new stem): faire -> je fasse; savoir -> je sache; pouvois -> je puisse;
4) Like the verbs in 3), the following verbs have an irregular subjunctive stem, but use the normal stem for the 1st and 2nd person plural: vouloir -> je veuille (but nous voulions); aller -> j'aille (but nous allions); valoir -> je vaille (but nous valions);
How to use the Subjunctive
Basically, there are two occasions when the subjunctive is used:
1) In indirect speech, where it is used in order to render the imperative. E. g. if somebody told you "Viens!", you'd later report that as "il m'a dit que je vienne." You can usually avoid this subjunctive by using a construction like "il m'a dit de venir.".
2) After certain verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs and other constructions. Unfortunately, you'll have to learn which ones, since there are no rules for this. Some people say that the subjunctive is used whenever you doubt something, but that's only a general rule that will betray you more often than not. See the article French constructions with subjunctive for a complete list of things that require the subjunctive.
