Imperative and subjunctive without que

ann G.B2Kwiziq community member

Could you please explain why the sentence « Alors, reste avec nous et sois notre soeur. »* appears to be using the subjunctive form of être if there is no "que" before it. It makes sense that "stay with us" is in the imperative and "be our sister" is subjunctive in that it is a desire/hope/want. Is this just a special case or have I misunderstood the grammar?

*Quote from a traditional fairytale.

Asked 2 years ago

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N. Hilary (Shamrockhill) W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

Bonjour Ann,

Very good question. For the verb etre, the subjuncive happens to be identical to the imperative which is where your confusion may come from. In this case, "sois" is the Imperative form of etre in the second person singular.

Hope that this helps.

Like22 years ago

ann G. asked: