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English Grammar


Until

Marie Molina
User since 2013
Posts: 4

12 May 2014

Un point serait peut-être le bienvenu à propos de l'utilisation de "until" qui est suivi soit du subjonctif ( projection dans le futur) soit de l'indicatif ( action passée).. Merci ! Warm regards ... Marie

1 comments

  • User since 2006
    Posts: 2715

    4 Aug. 2014

    As I was browsing through this forum,  I got caught by this thread that hasn't got any follow-up so far. (By the way, Marie, you'd better use your English in order to spare your French that's too precious a language to be squandered to the four winds.)
    When Until is used about an action or event that happened in the past, I have no problem, the text has to be set in the indicative. Ex: They didn't say anything until he came. - She had been trusting him until she read the paper.

    About  a say that's telling a future action or event, I am quite puzzled. I wonder whether the rules aren't  loose. Ex: I'd say: We will wait until the rain stop pouring (subj.) but I read in a dictionary: Let's wait until the rain stops (indic.). - I'd say: Jo will be a good boy until the boss come (subj.) - I  won't start until she come (subj.) but I find in dictionaries: We'll sit here until Donna has arrived (indic.) - The wallpaper image will remain until the computer is restarted (indic.).
    Isn't the subjunctire used only with a possibility that is uncertain to happen and the indicative used with possibilities that are likely to happen sooner or later?
    Anyone who could set me right is welcome. How do you feel about it, Marie?

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