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Lesson 46B2

Purpose Clauses: pour que vs. pour + infinitif

Purpose Clauses: pour que बनाम pour + infinitif

Purpose clauses split by the same same-subject test you met with vouloir in the subjonctif lesson: one person's purpose uses a plain infinitive, two different people's purposes force a full subjonctif clause. Hindi's own purpose marker, ताकि, already pulls in Hindi's subjunctive whenever a purpose clause appears — so the underlying logic here isn't new, just dressed in French words.

Grammar Comparison

व्याकरण तुलना

Same subject vs. different subject decides the tool — and Hindi already makes a related check

French

Je parle fort pour être entendu. (I speak loudly to be heard — same subject) vs. Je parle fort pour que tu m'entendes. (I speak loudly so that YOU hear me — different subject)

Hindi

मैं ज़ोर से बोलता/बोलती हूँ ताकि सुना जा सकूँ। बनाम मैं ज़ोर से बोलता/बोलती हूँ ताकि तुम मुझे सुन सको।

Just like the je veux que vs. je veux + infinitif choice from Lesson 40, pour + infinitive is only grammatical when the purpose and the main clause share the same subject; the moment a second person is involved, pour que takes over and opens its own subjonctif clause with its own subject (que tu m'entendes). Hindi's ताकि doesn't split into two different words the way French does — it stays ताकि either way — but it does always pull in Hindi's subjunctive (सुन सको, सुना जा सकूँ) regardless of whether the subject changes, which goes a step further than French: French only demands the mood-shifted clause when the subject changes, dropping to a plain infinitive when it doesn't, while Hindi's ताकि keeps its subjunctive verb in both cases. Don't let ताकि's consistency tempt you into skipping que in French when the subject stays the same — French's stricter same-subject/different-subject test still applies even though Hindi doesn't make that particular cut.

afin que / afin de: the same split, more formal

French

afin que + subjonctif (different subject) / afin de + infinitif (same subject)

Hindi

ताकि (औपचारिक, अलग कर्ता) / के लिए (औपचारिक, वही कर्ता)

afin que and afin de work exactly like pour que and pour + infinitif, just pitched at a more formal, written register. Hindi doesn't mark this same que/de-style split with different formal words — ताकि covers the different-subject purpose case in both casual and formal Hindi, while के लिए ('for the sake of' + verbal noun) can stand in for the same-subject case, दौड़ने के लिए ('in order to run') — so where French swaps in an entirely different, fancier-sounding pair of words for formal register, Hindi tends to keep the same core words and let vocabulary choice elsewhere in the sentence signal formality instead.

Vocabulary

शब्दावली

pour + infinitifpoor
Hindi
के लिएke lie
English
in order to (same subject)
pour que + subjonctifpoor kuh
Hindi
ताकिtāki
English
so that (different subject)
afin deah-fan duh
Hindi
के लिए (औपचारिक)ke lie (aupcārik)
English
in order to (formal, same subject)
afin queah-fan kuh
Hindi
ताकि (औपचारिक)tāki (aupcārik)
English
so that (formal, different subject)
Je téléphone pour confirmer.zhuh tay-lay-fon poor kohn-feer-MAY
Hindi
मैं पुष्टि करने के लिए फ़ोन कर रहा/रही हूँ।maiñ puṣṭi karne ke lie fon kar rahā/rahī hūñ
English
I'm calling to confirm.
Je téléphone pour que tu confirmes.zhuh tay-lay-fon poor kuh too kohn-FEERM
Hindi
मैं फ़ोन कर रहा/रही हूँ ताकि तुम पुष्टि करो।maiñ fon kar rahā/rahī hūñ tāki tum puṣṭi karo
English
I'm calling so that you confirm.