Subordinate Clauses: parce que, que, quand
Subordinate Clauses: parce que, que, quand
French links clauses together with connector words placed at the seam, while word order inside each clause stays fixed SVO — the same subject-verb-object order English uses, so nothing has to be reordered when you add a subordinate clause.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
parce que: because
Je reste à la maison parce qu'il pleut. (I'm staying home because it's raining.)
I'm staying home because it's raining.
parce que introduces a reason and behaves exactly like English 'because' — the clause after it keeps normal SVO order (il pleut, not a reordered verb), just as in English.
que: introducing what someone thinks, says, or knows
Je pense que tu as raison. (I think that you're right.)
I think that you're right.
After verbs like penser, dire, savoir, croire, espérer, French uses que to introduce the reported content, and — unlike English, where 'that' is often optional ('I think you're right') — que can never be dropped in French. This is a small but very frequent trap: every 'I think...', 'I know...', 'I hope...' sentence needs its que, even where the equivalent English sentence sounds perfectly natural without 'that'.
quand: when, for both questions and clauses
Quand tu arrives, appelle-moi. (When you arrive, call me.)
When you arrive, call me.
quand introduces a time clause the same way it introduces a question, just like English 'when'. One key difference: French uses the present tense in both halves of a quand-clause about the future (Quand tu arrives, appelle-moi — literally 'When you arrive, call me'), where English also uses the present in the quand-clause ('when you arrive') but shifts to future/imperative in the main clause — so the pattern actually lines up closely between the two languages here.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| parce que | par-suh KUH | because |
| que | kuh | that (introducing a clause) |
| quand | kahn | when |
| puisque | pweesk | since / as (giving a reason) |
| comme | kum | as / since (used at the start of a sentence) |
| pendant que | pahn-dahn KUH | while |
| je pense que | zhuh pahns KUH | I think that |
| je sais que | zhuh say KUH | I know that |