Tenses with "bien que"

Question

Tu es sortie bien que je ne sois pas d'accord.Am struggling to understand why the answer uses the present subjunctive of etre.Thanks for any help!

Accepted Answer

Hi Theresa, 
You will find the answer to your question in the following lesson -
Bien que/quoique + subjunctive (Le Subjonctif) = although/though in French
Hope this helps!

Answer

Many thanks for your prompt reply, but I had looked at the page and am none the wiser (although in general I find these super clear and think Lawless French and Kwiziq are wonderful).  From memory the English was "You went out even though I wasn't ok with it" both parts seem to be in the past tense.  Sorry, obviously missing something...

Answer

Is your question about why the present subjunctive is used instead of the past subjunctive?

There are something like 7 tenses in French, yet the subjunctive really only exists in either present or past tense. Clearly, you can't simply choose the subjunctive in the tense suggested by the entire sentence. The rule is, you use the present tense subjunctive unless you specifically want to denote that one action stopped before the other began.