Subjunctive with negation of penser and conditional past

Question

I came across ‘je ne pense pas qu’ils auraient reussi à s’arracher à lui s’il était revenu.’  (Harry Potter translation).  Although penser when negated takes the subjunctive is the subjunctive not used when a conditional tense is needed? I guess I’m not sure whether tenses change the use of the subjunctive. I read the future changes to the present to us the subjunctive.

Céline Pickard · Accepted Answer

Bonjour Averill,
You're correct that Le Subjonctif introduces a doubt (although "vague" at times). Here, because the sentence includes a hypothesis (which is introduced by "si" / "s’il était revenu"), you will need to use Le Conditionnel.

Je ne pense pas qu’ils auraient réussi à s’arracher à lui s’il était revenu
Je ne pense pas qu'ils aient réussi à s'arracher à lui

I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée !

Chris Wirt · Answer

The past conditional -- auraient réussi -- overrides the subjunctive. It expresses a stronger doubt than the subjunctive would.