Verbs and expressions of emotion or feeling - fear, happiness, anger, regret, surprise, or any other sentiments - require the subjunctive. The injured man is brought to the hospital. The subject of the sentence is not always mentioned in a passive sentence, either because it is unknown or unimportant. The subjunctive is used after verbs and impersonal expressions showing opinion, doubt, need, want, emotion, denial, disbelief, preference, desire, permission, prohibition; after a request or a command; after certain conjunctions; after superlative expressions; after certain indefinites; in relative clauses; and in third‐person commands. ***When nier is in the negative, it's followed by the ne explétif:Il n'a pas nié qu'elle ne soit partie.He didn't deny that she left. After main clauses which contain adjectives like principal, seul, unique, premier, dernier, or any superlative, the subjunctive is optional - it depends on how concrete the speaker feels about what is being said.Hélène est la seule personne qui puisse nous aider.Hélène is the only person who can help us. We use these constructions when the subject is unknown or unimportant. The present subjunctive is used to express both present and future time, while the past or perfect subjunctive is used to express an action that has already taken place. If the subject is mentioned, it is introduced by the prepositions par or de. They focus on who or what is performing the action, i.e., the subject of the sentence. On the last page of this article (page 8), you'll find many more links to subjunctive related articles on About.com, including verb conjugations in the subjunctive mood.NOTE: There is no future subjunctive. The newspaper that’s reporting the events will sell well. Does the French Verb 'Souhaiter' Need the Subjunctive? (But it's not necessarily the best that exists. Il faut que les gâteaux soient preparés par lui. Oui, je pense qu'il est sympa, Non, je ne pense pas qu'il soit sympa.Do you think he's nice? In contrast, la voix passive (the passive voice) focuses on who or what is affected by the action and the action itself. We use the passive when the subject of the sentence is not important or is unknown. If It's the Latter, Use Subjunctive, Are You Hypothesizing With 'Supposer'? In a previous article, we have talked more lengthily about the French subjunctive. It’s terrible that a man is hit by a car. To learn how to transform an active sentence into a passive one, take a look at the examples in the table below. (The cakes must be prepared by him.) This can be translated into English with the passive or with they. Most French sentences are formed in la voix active (the active voice). These endings are the same for all three verb groups.