Happy and jealous

Je suis heureux que vous avez acheté une nouvelle voiture.

Je suis jaloux que vous avez acheté une nouvelle voiture.

Are the above sentences fine?

I am happy you bought a new car.
I am jealous you bought a new car.

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Permalink Reply by Neil Coffey on February 20, 2010 at 9:40pm

If you recall from the other thread on the subjunctive, these are cases where speakers would generally use the subjunctive because the subordinate clause (the que... part) isn't making an assertion. In other words, it's not making a statement that something happened, so much as "snapshotting" that situation. So speakers would generally say:

Je suis heureux que vous ayez acheté une nouvelle voiture.

therefore using the subjunctive form.

Another way of looking at this is if you imagine the effect of adding a "reply" to the sentence such as Oui, c'est vrai:

- Je suis heureux que vous ayez acheté une nouvelle voiture.
-Oui, c'est vrai.

Here, the Oui, c'est vrai could effectively mean Oui, tu es heureux, but it couldn't mean Oui, tu as acheté une voiture.

Contrast this with the indicative:

- Pierre a dit que tu as acheté une nouvelle voiture.
- Oui, c'est vrai.

where Oui, c'est vrai could effectively mean either Oui, Pierre a bien dit cela or Oui, tu as acheté une nouvelle voiture-- in other words, with two indicative verbs, there are two assertions or statements that can be agreed with/denied.

Hope that sort of makes sense...

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Permalink Reply by Crack1 on February 21, 2010 at 12:21pm

Thanks Neil
I can never ever write correct French. It is difficult unless you are a native speaker.

Je suis heureux que vous ayez acheté une nouvelle voiture. [ I am happy you bought a new car.]

Je suis jaloux que vous ayez acheté une nouvelle voiture. [ I am jealous you bought a new car.]
So the above are correct sentences.
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Let us assume that you are going to buy a car. Do you still need the subjunctive form?
Are the following fine?
Je suis heureux que vous acheterez une nouvelle voiture.

Je suis jaloux que vous achèterez une nouvelle voiture.

I am happy that you are going to buy a new car.
I am jealous that you are going to buy a new car.