Introduction Differences Exercises

Coordination and Subordination

Introduction

Coordination and subordination are two ways words and groups of words can be linked together.  

1.Coordination

Coordination is an equal relationship, a little like that of two partners or husband and wife.  The most common coordinator is et: 

Un film en noir et blanc

A movie in black and white

Le chaud et le froid

Hot and cold

Il est nouveau et il ne comprend pas.

He's new and he doesn't understand.

In the three examples above, two words, then two phrases, and finally two clauses are coordinated. 

Other coordinating conjunctions are mais  ou  donc  or  ni  and  car.  You can also coordinate two items by simply putting them side by side, as is done in lists.  Here three clauses are coordinated:

Greenpeace s'est trompé, a admis ses erreurs et s'est excusé.

Greenpeace made a mistake, admitted it, and apologized.

2.Subordination

Subordination is an unequal relationship, where one word or group depends on the other, a little like the parent-child relationship.  In the following examples, the head word or phrase, or clause, is in red, and the other words or items are subordinated to it.

La même chose 

The same thing

Je pense qu'il s'est trompé.

I think (that) he made a mistake.

The traditional way of looking at objects and adverbials is to see them as subordinated to the verb.  (In French, objects and adverbials are called compléments (complément d'objet direct, complément d'objet indirect, complément circonstanciel).) 

Les enfants font leurs devoirs à la maison.

Children do their homework at home.

In the example above, you can consider the object and the adverbial (à la maison) to be subordinated to the verb font.

Differences

There are two important differences between English and French in the way subordinations occur, but neither poses a serious problem when going from French to English, as you will be doing.
 

1.Repetition of subordinating word in French

In English, a subordinating which or that is not always needed, whereas in French the que is obligatory:

L'homme que j'ai vu

The man I saw

A little more tricky sometimes is the need in French to repeat prepositions and conjunctions before each subordinated element.  

Cela dépend du nombre et de la qualité des participants.

It depends on the number and the quality of the participants.

Il semble qu'il comprenne l'importance de la réunion et qu'il y assistera.

It seems (that) he understands the importance of the meeting and will be there.

When a conjunction other than que has to be repeated, it is often replaced by que, and this can sometimes be a little confusing.

Quand ces mesures seront prises et que le rapport aura été rédigé...

When these measures have been implemented and the report has been written

 

2.Linking Nouns

The way nouns are joined together in French is explained in Complex Noun Phrases.

Exercises