Subjunctive mood
Encyclopedia
In grammar
, the subjunctive mood (abbreviated or ) is a verb
mood
typically used in subordinate clauses to express various states of irreality such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, necessity, or action that has not yet occurred.
It is sometimes referred to as the conjunctive mood, as it often follows a conjunction. The details of subjunctive use vary from language to language.
, Celtic languages
, Germanic languages
(including English), Slavic languages, many of the languages of the Indian subcontinent
and the Iranian
or Persian
languages and several others. It had two closely related moods: the subjunctive and the optative
. Many of its daughter languages combined or merged these moods.
In Indo-European, the subjunctive was formed by using the full ablaut
grade of the root of the verb, and appending the thematic vowel *-e- or *-o- to the root stem, with the full, primary set of personal inflections. The subjunctive was the Indo-European irrealis, used for hypothetical or counterfactual situations.
The optative mood was formed with a suffix *-ieh1 or *-ih1 (with a laryngeal
). The optative used the clitic
set of secondary personal inflections. The optative was used to express wishes or hopes.
Among the Indo-European languages, only Albanian
, Avestan, Ancient Greek
, Sanskrit
, and to some extent Old Church Slavonic
kept the subjunctive and optative fully separate and parallel. However, in Sanskrit, use of the subjunctive is only found in the Vedic language of the earliest times, and the optative and imperative comparatively less commonly used. In the later language (from c.500BC), the subjunctive fell out of use, with the optative or imperative being used instead, or merged with the optative as in Latin. However, the first person forms of the subjunctive continue to be used, as they are transferred to the imperative, which formerly, like Greek, had no first person forms.
, subjunctives are also usually formed from old optatives
. In German
, subjunctives are typically marked with an -e ending, and often with i-umlaut
, showing once more the presence of the *-i- suffix that is the mark of the old optative. In Old Norse
, an -i is involved in many subjunctive constructions; grefr, "he digs", becomes grafi, "let him dig"; and an i-umlaut occurs in subjunctive derivations in the strong verbs. Below are two tables showing the Old Norse active paradigm of the verb grafa (“to dig”):
Present
Past
While most of the signs of the i-suffix have been removed in Modern English
, the change from was to were in the modern English subjunctive of to be also marks addition of a vowel sound to the subjunctive form, and as such represents an echo of the Indo-European optative marker of five thousand years ago.
occurs in a variety of contexts in which the form of the verb used is different from what it normally would be, given the implied time of the action. Regardless of the subject, the form of the present subjunctive verb used to express present or past desires and the like in that clauses is the bare form of the infinitive (not preceded by "to"). Hence, the present subjunctive of "to go" is "I go", "you go", "he/she/it go", "we go", "they go". For instance: "It was required that he go to the back of the line" (compared with the indicative "Everyone knows that he went to the back of the line"); "It is required that he go to the back of the line" (compared with the indicative "Everyone knows that he goes to the back of the line").
The English subjunctive also occurs in counterfactual dependent clauses, using a form of the verb that in the indicative would indicate a time of action prior to the one implied by the subjunctive. It is called the past subjunctive when referring counterfactually to the present, and is called the pluperfect subjunctive when referring counterfactually to the past. It occurs in that clauses following the main-clause verb "wish" ("I wish that she were here now"; I wish that she had been here yesterday") and in if clauses expressing a condition that does not or did not hold ("If she were here right now, ..."; "If she had been here yesterday, ...").
A form of the subjunctive, called the future subjunctive, is used in if clauses of doubtful possibility with future reference; regardless of person and number, it uses the form "if I were to go".
The terms "present subjunctive" and "past subjunctive", such as appear in the following table, refer to the form and not to the time of action expressed. (Not shown in the table is the pluperfect subjunctive, which uses the had plus past participle construction when the counterfactual time of action is the past.)
As shown in the above table, the form of the subjunctive is distinguishable from the indicative in five circumstances:
However, even when the subjunctive and indicative forms are identical, their time references are usually different.
The verb "to be" is so distinguishable because its forms in Modern English derive from three different Old English verbs: beon (be, being, been), wesan (was, is, wast), and waeron (am, art, are, were, wert).
Some modal auxiliaries
have a past subjunctive form. For example, the indicative will as in He will come tomorrow has the subjunctive form would as in I wish that he would come tomorrow. Likewise, the indicative can as in He can do it now has the subjunctive form could as in I wish that he could do it now. And the indicative shall as in I shall go there has the subjunctive form should as in If I should go there,...."
In Early Modern English
, the past subjunctive was distinguishable from the past indicative not only in the verb to be (as in Modern English) but also in the second-person singular of all verbs. For example: indicative thou sattest, but subjunctive thou sat.
Nevertheless, in some texts in which the pronoun thou
is used a final -est or -st is sometimes added; for example, thou beest appears frequently in the work of Shakespeare
and some of his contemporaries.
, namely Konjunktiv I (KI) 'present subjunctive' and Konjunktiv II (KII) 'past subjunctive'. Despite their English names, both German subjunctives can be used in the past and present tenses.
The KI expresses indirect (reported) speech. For example:
Er sagte mir, er sei nicht bereit. 'He told me he was not ready.' His claim may be true or it may not.
If a speaker doubts a statement, Konjunktiv I may be used. For example: Es wurde gesagt, er habe keine Zeit für so (et)was. ' It is said that he has no time for this kind of thing.' Present subjunctive 'habe' replaces the present indicative 'hat.'
However, the use of Konjunktiv forms does not always strictly follow the principles as Konjunktiv I sounds rather formal and may be replaced by Konjunktiv II. The example above would then become: Es wurde gesagt, er hätte keine Zeit für so (et)was.
The KI for regular verbs in German is formed by adding -e, -est, -e, -en, -et, -en to the stem. The verb sein 'to be' has the stem sei- for the KI form. While the use of Konjunktiv I for reported speech is formal and common in newspaper articles, its use in colloquial speech is in continual decline.
It is possible to express the KI in various tenses, including the perfect (er sei da gewesen 'he has [apparently] been there') and the future (er werde da sein 'he will be there'). For the preterite, which forms the Konjunktiv II with a somewhat other meaning, indirect speech has to evade into the perfect tense, so that: "Er sagte: 'Ich war da.'" becomes "Er sagte, er sei da gewesen".
The KII is used to form the conditional tense and, on occasion, as a replacement for the Konjunktiv I when both indicative and subjunctive moods of a particular verb are indistinguishable.
Every German verb has a Konjunktiv II form. But in spoken German, the conditional is most commonly formed using würde (Konjunktiv II form of werden 'to become'; dialect: täte, KII of tun 'to do') with an infinitive. For example: An deiner Stelle würde ich ihm nicht helfen 'I would not help him if I were you'. In the example, the Konjunktiv II form of helfen (hülfe) is unusual. However, using 'würde' instead of hätte (KII form of haben 'to have') and wäre (KII form of sein 'to be') can be perceived anywhere from awkward (in the Present Konjunktiv II) to incorrect (in the Past-Time Konjunktiv II). There is a tendency to use the forms in würde rather in main clauses as in English; in subclauses even regular forms (which sound like the indicative of the preterite and are, thus, obsolete in any other circumstances) can still be heard.
Some verbs exist for which either construction can be used, such as with finden (fände) and tun (täte). Many dictionaries consider the Konjunkiv II forms of such verbs the only proper expression in formal written German.
The KII is formed from the stem of the preterite
(imperfect) form of the verb and appending the appropriate Konjunktiv I ending as appropriate, although in most regular verbs the final 'e' in the stem is dropped. In most cases, an umlaut
is appended to the stem vowel if possible (i.e. if it is a, o, u or au), for example: ich war → ich wäre, ich brachte → ich brächte.
See also German grammar
.
has the same subjunctive tenses as German (described above), but nowadays they are almost never used. The same two tenses as in German are sometimes considered subjunctive and sometimes conditional. In practice, potential subjunctive uses of verbs are difficult to differentiate from indicative uses, because:
Meaning that:
There are many fixed or nearly fixed sentences in the subjunctive mood that are still used in Dutch; some examples:
The above sentences are all in the present tense. The use of the past tense subjunctive mood - like "hadde" from "hebben" (to have) and "mochte" from "mogen" (may) - is almost completely limited to law texts and poetry. Zijn (to be) is the sole exception: it is used frequently to indicate unreality, something that did not happen. It translates with the English past subjunctive 'were':
, while some of the original subjunctive forms went to make the Latin future tense
, especially in the Latin third conjugation. In Latin, the *-i- of the old optative manifests itself in the fact that the Latin subjunctives typically have a high vowel even when the indicative mood has a lower vowel; Latin rogamus, "we ask", makes a subjunctive rogemus, "let us ask".
Latin 1st Conjugation Present Subjunctive
Latin 2nd Conjugation Present Subjunctive
Latin 3rd Conjugation Present Subjunctive
Latin 3rdIO Conjugation Present Subjunctive
Latin 4th Conjugation Present Subjunctive
The subjunctive mood retains a highly distinct form for nearly all verbs in Portuguese
, Spanish
and Italian
(among other Latin languages), and for a number of verbs in French
. All of these languages inherit their subjunctive from Latin
, where the subjunctive mood combines both forms and usages from a number of original Indo-European inflection sets (described above), including the original subjunctive and the optative mood
.
In many cases, the Romance languages use the subjunctive in the same ways that English does; however, they use them in other ways as well. For example, English generally uses the auxiliary may or let to form desiderative
expressions, such as "Let it snow". The Romance languages use the subjunctive for these; French, for example, would say, "Qu'il neige" and "Qu'ils vivent jusqu'à leur vieillesse". However, in the case of the first-person plural, these languages have imperative forms: "Let us go" in French is "Allons-y". In addition, the Romance languages tend to use the subjunctive in various kinds of subordinate clauses, such as those introduced by words meaning although English: "Although I am old, I feel young"; French: Bien que je sois vieux, je me sens jeune.
In Spanish, phrases with words like lo que (that which, what), quien (who), or donde (where) and subjunctive verb forms are often translated to English with some variation of "whatever". (Spanish: "lo que sea", English: "whatever", "anything"; Spanish: "donde sea", English: "wherever"; Spanish: "quien sea", English: "whoever"; Spanish: "lo que quieras", English: "whatever you may want"; Spanish: "cueste lo que cueste", English: "whatever it may cost".)
, which include the loss of many inflections in the spoken language, the subjunctive (le subjonctif) remains prominent, largely because the subjunctive forms of many common verbs are strongly marked phonetically; compare the indicative je sais (I know) and its subjunctive counterpart que je sache. (However, the present indicatives and present subjunctives of most verbs are homonyms when they have singular subjects: je parle [I speak] is both the present indicative and the present subjunctive.)
Use of the subjunctive is in many respects similar to English:
But sometimes it is not:
French also has an imperfect subjunctive, which in older, formal, or literary writing replaces the present subjunctive in a subordinate clause when the main clause is in a past tense:
Also in older, formal, or literary writing, the imperfect and pluperfect subjunctives double as a "second form" of the conditional and conditional perfect, in which case they are used in both the protasis
and the apodosis
. It should be noted, however, that many modern-day grammarians reject the use of the term "second form of the conditional perfect" (which they believe leads only to confusion), preferring instead that the subjunctive mood be called simply the subjunctive mood:
The subjunctive is used mainly in subordinate clauses following a set phrase or conjunction, such as benché, senza che, prima che, or perché for example. It is also used with verbs of doubt, possibility and expressing an opinion or desire, for example with credo che, è possibile che, and ritengo che, and with superlatives and virtual superlatives.
One difference between the French subjunctive and the Italian is that Italian uses the subjunctive after expressions like "Penso che" ("I think that"), where French would use the indicative.
The present subjunctive is similar to, but still mostly distinguishable from, the present indicative. Subject pronouns are often used with the present subjunctive where they are normally omitted in the indicative, since in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd person singular forms are spelt the same, so the person is not implicitly implied from the verb. Irregular verbs tend to follow the 1st person singular form, such as the present subjunctive forms of andare, which goes to vada etc. (1st person sing form is vado).
The present subjunctive is used in a range of situations in clauses taking the subjunctive.
The present subjunctive is used mostly in subordinate clauses, as in the examples above. However, exceptions include imperatives using the subjunctive (using the 3rd person), and general statements of desire.
The Italian imperfect subjunctive is very similar in appearance to the French imperfect subjunctive, and forms are largely regular, apart from the verbs essere, dare and stare (which go to fossi, dessi and stessi etc.). However, unlike in French, where it is often replaced with the present subjunctive, the imperfect subjunctive is far more common. Verbs with a contracted infinitive, such as dire (short for dicere) revert to the longer form in the imperfect subjunctive (to give dicessi etc., for example).
The imperfect subjunctive is used in subordinate clauses taking the subjunctive where the sense of the verb requires the imperfect.
The imperfect subjunctive is used in “if” clauses, where the main clause is in the conditional tense, as in English and German.
The perfect and pluperfect subjunctives are formed much like the indicative perfect and pluperfect, except the auxiliary (either avere or essere) verb takes the present and imperfect subjunctive respectively.
They are used in subordinate clauses which require the subjunctive, where the sense of the verb requires use of the perfect or pluperfect.
, the subjunctive (subjuntivo) is used in conjunction with impersonal expressions and expressions of emotion, opinion, or viewpoint. It is also used to describe situations that are considered unlikely or are in doubt, as well as for expressing disagreement, volition, or denial.
Many common expressions introduce subjunctive clauses. Examples include:
Spanish has two past subjunctive forms. They are almost identical, except that where the "first form" has -ra-, the "second form" has -se-. Both forms are usually interchangeable although the -se- form may be more common in Spain than in other Spanish-speaking areas. The -ra- forms may also be used as an alternative to the conditional
in certain structures.
In Spanish, a present subjunctive form is always different from the corresponding present indicative form. For example, whereas English "that they speak" or French "qu'ils parlent" can be either indicative or subjunctive, Spanish "que hablen" is unambiguously subjunctive. (The corresponding indicative would be "que hablan".) The same is true for all verbs, regardless of their subject.
When to use:
Examples:
Used interchangeably, the past (imperfect) subjunctive can end either in "-se" or "-ra". Both forms stem from the third person plural (ellos, ellas, ustedes) of the preterite. For example, with the verb "estar", when conjugated in the third person plural of the preterite, it becomes "estuvieron". Then, drop the "-ron" ending, and add either "-se" or "-ra". Thus, it becomes "estuviese" or "estuviera". The past subjunctive may be used with "if... then" statements with the conditional mood
. Example:
In Spanish, the future subjunctive tense is now all but extinct. It is seldom heard in everyday speech, and is usually reserved for literature, archaic
phrases and expressions, and legal documents. (The form is similar to the imperfect subjunctive, but with a "-re" ending instead of "-ra," "-res" instead of "-ras," and so on.) Example:
Phrases expressing the subjunctive in a future period normally employ the present subjunctive. For example: "I hope that it will rain tomorrow" would simply be "Espero que llueva mañana" (where llueva is the third-person singular present subjunctive of llover, "to rain"). The future subjunctive form of the verb would have been "lloviere".
In Spanish, the pluperfect subjunctive tense is used to describe a continuing wish in the past. "Desearía que (tú) hubieras ido al cine conmigo el viernes pasado." (I wish that you had gone to the movies with me last Friday). To form this tense in this mood, change the word haber to the subjunctive form and conjugate it, in this last example, we changed "haber" to "hubieras"; then add the participle form of the main verb (in this case ir, changing to "ido").
Though the "-re" form appears to be more closely related to the imperfect subjunctive "-ra" form than the "-se" form, that is not the case. The "-se" form of the imperfect subjunctive derives from the pluperfect subjunctive of Vulgar Latin and the "-ra" from the pluperfect indicative, combining to overtake the previous pluperfect subjunctive ending. The "-re" form is more complicated, stemming (so to speak) from a fusion of the perfect subjunctive and future perfect indicative—which, though in different moods, happened to be identical in the second and third persons—before losing the perfect in the shift to future subjunctive, the same perfect nature that was the only thing the forms originally shared. So the "-ra" and "-se" forms always had a past (to be specific, pluperfect) meaning, but only the "-se" form always belonged with the subjunctive mood that the "-re" form had since its emergence.
, the subjunctive (subjuntivo (Brazil) or conjuntivo (Portugal)) is used to talk about situations which are seen as doubtful, imaginary, hypothetical, demanded, or required. It can also express emotion, opinion, disagreement, denial, or a wish. Its value is similar to the one it has in formal English:
As in Spanish, the imperfect subjunctive is in vernacular use, and it is employed, among other things, to make the tense of a subordinate clause agree with the tense of the main clause:
The imperfect subjunctive is also used when the main clause is in the conditional:
Note that there are authors who regard the conditional of Portuguese as a 'future in the past' of the indicative mood, rather than as a separate mood; they call it futuro do pretérito ("future of the past"), especially in Brazil.
Portuguese differs from other Romance languages in having retained the medieval future subjunctive (futuro do subjuntivo), which is rarely used in Spanish and Galician
and has been lost in other West Iberian Romance
languages. It expresses a condition that must be fulfilled in the future, or is assumed to be fulfilled, before an event can happen. Spanish and English will use the present tense in this type of clause.
For example, in conditional sentence
s whose main clause is in the conditional, Portuguese, Spanish and English employ the past tense in the subordinate clause. Nevertheless, if the main clause is in the future, Portuguese will employ the future subjunctive where English and Spanish use the present indicative. (Note that English, when being used in a rigorously formal style, takes the present subjunctive in these situation, example: If I be, then...) Contrast the following two sentences.
The first situation is counterfactual
; we know that the speaker is not a king. However, the second statement expresses a promise about the future; the speaker may yet be elected president.
For a different example, a father speaking to his son might say:
The future subjunctive is identical in form to the personal infinitive in regular verbs, but they differ in some irregular verbs of frequent use. However, the possible differences between the two tenses are due only to stem changes. They always have the same endings.
It is important to see how the meaning of sentences can change by switching subjunctive and indicative:
să, which within these verbal forms plays the role of a morphological structural element. The subjunctive has two tenses: the past tense and the present tense.
The present subjunctive of the regular verbs is formed by adding specific endings to the stem of the infinitive (e.g. El vrea să cânte, he wants to sing). The actual verbal form is preceded by the conjunction să. The present tense is by far the most widely used of the two subjunctive tenses and is used frequently after verbs that express wish, preference, permission, possibility, request, advice, etc.: a vrea to want, a dori to wish, a prefera to prefer, a lăsa to let, to allow, a ruga to ask, a sfătui to advise, a sugera to suggest, a recomanda to recommend, a cere to demand, to ask for, a interzice to forbid, a permite to allow, to give permission, a se teme to be afraid, etc.
When used independently, the subjunctive indicates a desire, a fear, an order or a request, i.e. has modal
and imperative
values. The present subjunctive is used in questions having the modal value of should:
The present subjunctive is often used as an imperative, mainly for other persons than the 2nd person. When used with the 2nd person, it is even stronger than the imperative. The 1st person plural can be preceded by the interjection hai, which intensifies the imperative meaning of the structure:
The subjunctive present is used in certain set phrases used as greetings in specific situations:
The past tense of the subjunctive mood has one form for all persons and numbers of all the verbs, which is să fi followed by the past participle of the verb. The past subjunctive is used after the past optative-conditional of the verbs that require the subjunctive (a trebui, a vrea, a putea, a fi bine, a fi necesar, etc.), in constructions that express the necessity, the desire in the past:
When used independently, the past subjunctive indicates a regret related to a past-accomplished action that is seen as undesirable at the moment of speaking:
, there are two forms of the subjunctive: present and imperfect. The present subjunctive is barely ever used in spoken Welsh except in certain fixed phrases, and is restricted in most cases to the third person singular. However, it is more likely to be found in literary Welsh, most widely in more old-fashioned registers. The third person singular is properly used after certain conjunctions and prepositions but in spoken Welsh the present subjunctive is frequently replaced by either the infinitives, the present tense, the conditional, or the future tense (this latter is called the present-future by some grammarians).
The imperfect subjunctive, like English, only makes an effect on the verb bod- 'to be' and it is used after pe= 'if' and it must be accompanied with the conditional subjunctive e.g. Pe bawn i'n gyfoethog, teithiwn i trwy'r byd = If I were rich, I would travel throughout the world.
For all other verbs in Welsh as in English, the imperfect subjunctive takes the same stems as do the conditional subjunctive and the imperfect indicative.
For example,
Or when used as the conjunction, the subjunctive is used, like every other language, in a more demanding or wishful statement:
The subjunctive in Gaelic always will sometimes have the conjunction gun (or gum before words beginning with b, f, m or p) can be translated as 'that' or as 'May...' while making a wish. For negatives, nach is used instead.
In Scottish Gaelic, the imperfect subjunctive is exactly the same as the indicative only that it uses 'robh' in both the affirmative and negative forms, as the interrogative does not exist in any subjunctive form in any language, of 'bi'- 'to be' although 'robh' is taken from the interrogative form in the imperfect indicative of 'bi'.
For every other verb in Gaelic, the same follows for the imperfect subjunctive where the interrogative or negative form of the verb is used for both the affirmative and negative form of the verb and, like Welsh, the imperfect subjunctive forms can be exactly the same as the conditional subjunctive forms apart from 'bi'.
Examples:
(also known as Irish Gaelic), the subjunctive, like in Scottish Gaelic (its sister language), covers the idea of wishing something and so appears in some famous Irish proverbs and blessings. It's considered an old-fashioned tense for daily speech (except in set phrases) but still appears often in print.
The subjunctive is normally formed from "Go" (which eclipses, and adds "n-" to a verb beginning with a vowel), plus the subjunctive form of the verb, plus the subject, plus the thing being wished for. For instance, the subjunctive form of "teigh" (go) is "té":
(lit: may you go well)
Or again, the subjunctive of "tabhair" (give) is "tuga":
Or to take a third example, sometimes the wish is also a curse, like this one from Tory Island in Donegal:
The subjunctive is generally formed by taking the present indicative tense of the verb and adding on the appropriate subjunctive ending depending on broad or slender, and first or second conjugation. For example, the present tense first person singular of bog (to move) is bog mé and its subjunctive in the same person is boga mé:
1st Conjugation:
2nd Conjugation:
E.g. "go mbeannaí Dia thú" -- May God bless you.
There is also some irregularity in certain verbs in the subjunctive. The verb bí (to be) is the most irregular verb in Irish (as in most Indo-European languages):
The Irish phrase for "thank you" -- go raibh math agat—uses the subjunctive of "bí" and literally means "may there be good at-you".
Please note that some verbs don't follow the conjugation of the subjunctive exactly as conjugated above. These irregularities apply to verbs whose stem ends already in a stressed vowel and thus due to the rules of Irish orthography and pronunciation, can't take another. For example:
It is important to note that where the subjunctive is used in English, it may not be used in Irish and another tense might be used instead. For example:
The subjunctive is used in that-clauses, after Arabic an: urīdu an aktuba "I want to write." However in conditional and precative sentences, such as "if he goes" or "let him go," a different form of the imperfective aspect, the jussive, majzūm, is used.
In many spoken Arabic dialects, there remains a distinction between indicative and subjunctive, however it is not through a suffix but rather a prefix.
Levantine Arabic
, the indicative has b- while the subjunctive lacks it:
Moroccalan Arabic uses ka- or ta-.
Egyptian Arabic
uses a simple construction that precedes the conjugated verbs with (law "if") or (momken "may") the following are some examples:
in prehistoric times, so the distinction between indicative, subjunctive and jussive is nearly blurred even in Biblical Hebrew. A few relics remain for roots with a medial or final semivowel, such as yaqūm "he rises / will rise" versus yaqom "may he rise" and yihye "he will be" versus yehi "may he be". In modern Hebrew the situation has been carried even further, with the falling into disuse of forms like yaqom and yehi; instead, the future tense (prefix conjugation) is used for the subjunctive, often with the particle she- added to introduce the clause, if it is not already present (similar to French que).
The Biblical subjunctive survives in the third person singular forms of the verbs to be (להיות — lihyot, יהי/תהי or יהא/תהא) and to live (לחיות — likhyot, יחי/תחי), mostly in a literary register
:
Examples:
Note that "demand" is nowhere near as rude as it might come across in English. It is a polite but firm request, but not as polite as, say, "would you...".
The characteristic letter in its ending is -j-, and in the definite conjunctive conjugation the endings appear very similar to those of singular possession, with a leading letter -j-.
An unusual feature of the mood's endings is that there exist a short and a long form for the second person singular (i.e. "you"). The formation of this for regular verbs differs between the indefinite and definite: the indefinite requires just the addition of -j, which differs from the longer ending in that the last two sounds are omitted (-j and not -jél for example in menj above, cf. menjél). The short version of the definite form also drops two letters, but another two. It drops, for example: the -ja- in -jad, leaving just -d, as can be seen in add above (instead of adjad).
There are several groups of exceptions involving verbs that end in -t. The rules for how this letter, and a preceding letter, should change when the subjunctive endings are applied are quite complicated, see the article Hungarian verbs.
As usual, gemination of a final sibilant consonant is demonstrated when a j-initial ending is applied:
When referring to the demands of others, the subjunctive is demonstrated:
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
, the subjunctive mood (abbreviated or ) is a verb
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
mood
Grammatical mood
In linguistics, grammatical mood is a grammatical feature of verbs, used to signal modality. That is, it is the use of verbal inflections that allow speakers to express their attitude toward what they are saying...
typically used in subordinate clauses to express various states of irreality such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, necessity, or action that has not yet occurred.
It is sometimes referred to as the conjunctive mood, as it often follows a conjunction. The details of subjunctive use vary from language to language.
Proto-Indo-European
The reconstructed Proto Indo-European language is the hypothetical parent of many language families. These include the Romance languagesRomance languages
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, Celtic languages
Celtic languages
The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic"; a branch of the greater Indo-European language family...
, Germanic languages
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
(including English), Slavic languages, many of the languages of the Indian subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
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and the Iranian
Iranian languages
The Iranian languages form a subfamily of the Indo-Iranian languages which in turn is a subgroup of Indo-European language family. They have been and are spoken by Iranian peoples....
or Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
languages and several others. It had two closely related moods: the subjunctive and the optative
Optative mood
The optative mood is a grammatical mood that indicates a wish or hope. It is similar to the cohortative mood, and closely related to the subjunctive mood....
. Many of its daughter languages combined or merged these moods.
In Indo-European, the subjunctive was formed by using the full ablaut
Indo-European ablaut
In linguistics, ablaut is a system of apophony in Proto-Indo-European and its far-reaching consequences in all of the modern Indo-European languages...
grade of the root of the verb, and appending the thematic vowel *-e- or *-o- to the root stem, with the full, primary set of personal inflections. The subjunctive was the Indo-European irrealis, used for hypothetical or counterfactual situations.
The optative mood was formed with a suffix *-ieh1 or *-ih1 (with a laryngeal
Laryngeal
Laryngeal may mean*pertaining to the larynx*in Indo-European linguistics, a consonant postulated in the laryngeal theory*in phonetics, an alternate term for glottal sounds....
). The optative used the clitic
Clitic
In morphology and syntax, a clitic is a morpheme that is grammatically independent, but phonologically dependent on another word or phrase. It is pronounced like an affix, but works at the phrase level...
set of secondary personal inflections. The optative was used to express wishes or hopes.
Among the Indo-European languages, only Albanian
Albanian language
Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece...
, Avestan, Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
, Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
, and to some extent Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic or Old Church Slavic was the first literary Slavic language, first developed by the 9th century Byzantine Greek missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius who were credited with standardizing the language and using it for translating the Bible and other Ancient Greek...
kept the subjunctive and optative fully separate and parallel. However, in Sanskrit, use of the subjunctive is only found in the Vedic language of the earliest times, and the optative and imperative comparatively less commonly used. In the later language (from c.500BC), the subjunctive fell out of use, with the optative or imperative being used instead, or merged with the optative as in Latin. However, the first person forms of the subjunctive continue to be used, as they are transferred to the imperative, which formerly, like Greek, had no first person forms.
Germanic languages
In the Germanic languagesGermanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
, subjunctives are also usually formed from old optatives
Optative mood
The optative mood is a grammatical mood that indicates a wish or hope. It is similar to the cohortative mood, and closely related to the subjunctive mood....
. In German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, subjunctives are typically marked with an -e ending, and often with i-umlaut
Germanic umlaut
In linguistics, umlaut is a process whereby a vowel is pronounced more like a following vowel or semivowel. The term umlaut was originally coined and is used principally in connection with the study of the Germanic languages...
, showing once more the presence of the *-i- suffix that is the mark of the old optative. In Old Norse
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
, an -i is involved in many subjunctive constructions; grefr, "he digs", becomes grafi, "let him dig"; and an i-umlaut occurs in subjunctive derivations in the strong verbs. Below are two tables showing the Old Norse active paradigm of the verb grafa (“to dig”):
Present
| Person | Pronoun Pronoun In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a pro-form that substitutes for a noun , such as, in English, the words it and he... |
Indicative | Subjunctive |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Sing. | ek | gref | grafa |
| 2nd Sing. | þú | grefr | grafir |
| 3rd Sing. | hann/hon/þát | grefr | grafi |
| 1st Pl. | vér/vit | grǫfum | grafim |
| 2nd Pl. | þér/þit | grafið | grafið |
| 3rd Pl. | þeir/þær/þau | grafa | grafi |
Past
| Person | Pronoun Pronoun In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a pro-form that substitutes for a noun , such as, in English, the words it and he... |
Indicative | Subjunctive |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Sing. | ek | gróf | grœfa |
| 2nd Sing. | þú | gróft | grœfir |
| 3rd Sing. | hann/hon/þát | gróf | grœfi |
| 1st Pl. | vér/vit | grófum | grœfim |
| 2nd Pl. | þér/þit | grófuð | grœfið |
| 3rd Pl. | þeir/þær/þau | grófu | grœfi |
While most of the signs of the i-suffix have been removed in Modern English
Modern English
Modern English is the form of the English language spoken since the Great Vowel Shift in England, completed in roughly 1550.Despite some differences in vocabulary, texts from the early 17th century, such as the works of William Shakespeare and the King James Bible, are considered to be in Modern...
, the change from was to were in the modern English subjunctive of to be also marks addition of a vowel sound to the subjunctive form, and as such represents an echo of the Indo-European optative marker of five thousand years ago.
English
The subjunctive in Modern EnglishModern English
Modern English is the form of the English language spoken since the Great Vowel Shift in England, completed in roughly 1550.Despite some differences in vocabulary, texts from the early 17th century, such as the works of William Shakespeare and the King James Bible, are considered to be in Modern...
occurs in a variety of contexts in which the form of the verb used is different from what it normally would be, given the implied time of the action. Regardless of the subject, the form of the present subjunctive verb used to express present or past desires and the like in that clauses is the bare form of the infinitive (not preceded by "to"). Hence, the present subjunctive of "to go" is "I go", "you go", "he/she/it go", "we go", "they go". For instance: "It was required that he go to the back of the line" (compared with the indicative "Everyone knows that he went to the back of the line"); "It is required that he go to the back of the line" (compared with the indicative "Everyone knows that he goes to the back of the line").
The English subjunctive also occurs in counterfactual dependent clauses, using a form of the verb that in the indicative would indicate a time of action prior to the one implied by the subjunctive. It is called the past subjunctive when referring counterfactually to the present, and is called the pluperfect subjunctive when referring counterfactually to the past. It occurs in that clauses following the main-clause verb "wish" ("I wish that she were here now"; I wish that she had been here yesterday") and in if clauses expressing a condition that does not or did not hold ("If she were here right now, ..."; "If she had been here yesterday, ...").
A form of the subjunctive, called the future subjunctive, is used in if clauses of doubtful possibility with future reference; regardless of person and number, it uses the form "if I were to go".
The terms "present subjunctive" and "past subjunctive", such as appear in the following table, refer to the form and not to the time of action expressed. (Not shown in the table is the pluperfect subjunctive, which uses the had plus past participle construction when the counterfactual time of action is the past.)
| Present indicative | Present subjunctive | Past indicative | Past subjunctive | Future indicative | Future subjunctive | Present negative indicative | Present negative subjunctive | |
| to own (example regular verb) |
I own he/she/it owns we/you/they own |
that I own that he/she/it own that we/you/they own |
I owned he/she/it owned we/you/they owned |
that I owned that he/she/it owned that we/you/they owned |
I shall own he/she/it will own we shall own you/they will own |
if I were to own if he/she/it were to own if we/you/they were to own |
I do not own he/she/it does not own we/you/they do not own |
that I not own that he/she/it not own that we/you/they not own |
| to be | I am he/she/it is we/you/they are |
that I be that he/she/it be that we/you/they be |
I was he/she/it was we/you/they were |
that I were that he/she/it were that we/you/they were |
I shall be he/she/it will be we shall be you/they will be |
if I were to be if he/she/it were to be if we/you/they were to be |
I am not he/she/it is not we/you/they are not |
that I not be that he/she/it not be that we/you/they not be |
| Time of action | present or future | past, present or future | past | present | future | future | present or future | past, present or future |
| Usage | desire in that clauses | counterfactuality in if clauses or in that clauses after wish | doubtful possibility in if clauses | desire in that clauses |
As shown in the above table, the form of the subjunctive is distinguishable from the indicative in five circumstances:
- in the third person singular of any verb in the present form;
- in all instances of the verb "be" in the present form;
- in the first and third persons singular of the verb "be" in the past form;
- in all instances of all verbs in the future form; and
- in all instances of all verbs in the present negative form.
However, even when the subjunctive and indicative forms are identical, their time references are usually different.
The verb "to be" is so distinguishable because its forms in Modern English derive from three different Old English verbs: beon (be, being, been), wesan (was, is, wast), and waeron (am, art, are, were, wert).
Some modal auxiliaries
English modal auxiliary verb
In the English language, a modal verb is a type of auxiliary verb. The key way to identify a modal verb is by its defectiveness...
have a past subjunctive form. For example, the indicative will as in He will come tomorrow has the subjunctive form would as in I wish that he would come tomorrow. Likewise, the indicative can as in He can do it now has the subjunctive form could as in I wish that he could do it now. And the indicative shall as in I shall go there has the subjunctive form should as in If I should go there,...."
In Early Modern English
Early Modern English
Early Modern English is the stage of the English language used from about the end of the Middle English period to 1650. Thus, the first edition of the King James Bible and the works of William Shakespeare both belong to the late phase of Early Modern English...
, the past subjunctive was distinguishable from the past indicative not only in the verb to be (as in Modern English) but also in the second-person singular of all verbs. For example: indicative thou sattest, but subjunctive thou sat.
Nevertheless, in some texts in which the pronoun thou
Thou
The word thou is a second person singular pronoun in English. It is now largely archaic, having been replaced in almost all contexts by you. It is used in parts of Northern England and by Scots. Thou is the nominative form; the oblique/objective form is thee , and the possessive is thy or thine...
is used a final -est or -st is sometimes added; for example, thou beest appears frequently in the work of Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
and some of his contemporaries.
German
German has two forms of the subjunctive moodGrammatical mood
In linguistics, grammatical mood is a grammatical feature of verbs, used to signal modality. That is, it is the use of verbal inflections that allow speakers to express their attitude toward what they are saying...
, namely Konjunktiv I (KI) 'present subjunctive' and Konjunktiv II (KII) 'past subjunctive'. Despite their English names, both German subjunctives can be used in the past and present tenses.
Konjunktiv I
The KI expresses indirect (reported) speech. For example:
Er sagte mir, er sei nicht bereit. 'He told me he was not ready.' His claim may be true or it may not.
If a speaker doubts a statement, Konjunktiv I may be used. For example: Es wurde gesagt, er habe keine Zeit für so (et)was. ' It is said that he has no time for this kind of thing.' Present subjunctive 'habe' replaces the present indicative 'hat.'
However, the use of Konjunktiv forms does not always strictly follow the principles as Konjunktiv I sounds rather formal and may be replaced by Konjunktiv II. The example above would then become: Es wurde gesagt, er hätte keine Zeit für so (et)was.
The KI for regular verbs in German is formed by adding -e, -est, -e, -en, -et, -en to the stem. The verb sein 'to be' has the stem sei- for the KI form. While the use of Konjunktiv I for reported speech is formal and common in newspaper articles, its use in colloquial speech is in continual decline.
It is possible to express the KI in various tenses, including the perfect (er sei da gewesen 'he has [apparently] been there') and the future (er werde da sein 'he will be there'). For the preterite, which forms the Konjunktiv II with a somewhat other meaning, indirect speech has to evade into the perfect tense, so that: "Er sagte: 'Ich war da.'" becomes "Er sagte, er sei da gewesen".
Konjunktiv II
The KII is used to form the conditional tense and, on occasion, as a replacement for the Konjunktiv I when both indicative and subjunctive moods of a particular verb are indistinguishable.
Every German verb has a Konjunktiv II form. But in spoken German, the conditional is most commonly formed using würde (Konjunktiv II form of werden 'to become'; dialect: täte, KII of tun 'to do') with an infinitive. For example: An deiner Stelle würde ich ihm nicht helfen 'I would not help him if I were you'. In the example, the Konjunktiv II form of helfen (hülfe) is unusual. However, using 'würde' instead of hätte (KII form of haben 'to have') and wäre (KII form of sein 'to be') can be perceived anywhere from awkward (in the Present Konjunktiv II) to incorrect (in the Past-Time Konjunktiv II). There is a tendency to use the forms in würde rather in main clauses as in English; in subclauses even regular forms (which sound like the indicative of the preterite and are, thus, obsolete in any other circumstances) can still be heard.
Some verbs exist for which either construction can be used, such as with finden (fände) and tun (täte). Many dictionaries consider the Konjunkiv II forms of such verbs the only proper expression in formal written German.
The KII is formed from the stem of the preterite
Preterite
The preterite is the grammatical tense expressing actions that took place or were completed in the past...
(imperfect) form of the verb and appending the appropriate Konjunktiv I ending as appropriate, although in most regular verbs the final 'e' in the stem is dropped. In most cases, an umlaut
Germanic umlaut
In linguistics, umlaut is a process whereby a vowel is pronounced more like a following vowel or semivowel. The term umlaut was originally coined and is used principally in connection with the study of the Germanic languages...
is appended to the stem vowel if possible (i.e. if it is a, o, u or au), for example: ich war → ich wäre, ich brachte → ich brächte.
See also German grammar
German grammar
This page outlines the grammar of the German language.-Nouns:A German noun has one of three specific grammatical genders . Nouns are declined for case and grammatical number. All nouns are capitalized.-Genders:...
.
Dutch
DutchDutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
has the same subjunctive tenses as German (described above), but nowadays they are almost never used. The same two tenses as in German are sometimes considered subjunctive and sometimes conditional. In practice, potential subjunctive uses of verbs are difficult to differentiate from indicative uses, because:
- only the singular subjunctive present differs from the present indicative: e.g., the subjunctive "God zegene je, mijn kind" (May God bless you, my child) differs from the indicative "God zegent je, mijn kind" (God blesses you, my child.)
- only the singular subjunctive past of strong verbs differs from the past indicative: e.g., the subjunctive "hadde", "ware" and "mochte" differ from the indicative "had", "was" and "mocht" ('had', 'was' and 'might').
Meaning that:
- the plural of subjunctive present is identical to the plural of the indicative present - there are a few exceptions where the usage is clearly subjunctive, like: "Mogen zij in vrede rusten" (May they rest in peace.)
- the singular and plural of the subjunctive past of weak verbes is identical to respectively the singular and plural of the indicative past
- the plural of the subjunctive past of strong verbs is identical to the plural of the indicative past
There are many fixed or nearly fixed sentences in the subjunctive mood that are still used in Dutch; some examples:
- Leve de koningin! (Long live the Queen!)
- Men neme ... (One takes ... - as found in recipeRecipeA recipe is a set of instructions that describe how to prepare or make something, especially a culinary dish.-Components:Modern culinary recipes normally consist of several components*The name of the dish...
s) - Uw naam worde geheiligd. (Hallowed be Thy name (Lord's PrayerLord's PrayerThe Lord's Prayer is a central prayer in Christianity. In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, it appears in two forms: in the Gospel of Matthew as part of the discourse on ostentation in the Sermon on the Mount, and in the Gospel of Luke, which records Jesus being approached by "one of his...
).) - Zo waarlijk helpe mij God almachtig. (So help me God (when swearing an oathOathAn oath is either a statement of fact or a promise calling upon something or someone that the oath maker considers sacred, usually God, as a witness to the binding nature of the promise or the truth of the statement of fact. To swear is to take an oath, to make a solemn vow...
).) - Het zij zo. (So be it.)
- God zegene u. (God bless you.)
- De HERE zegene u en behoede u; de HERE doe Zijn aangezicht over u lichten en zij u genadig; de HERE verheffe Zijn aangezicht over u en geve u vrede. (May the LORD bless you, and keep you; May the LORD make his face shine to upon you, and be gracious to you; May the LORD turn his countenance to you and grant you peace (Priestly BlessingPriestly BlessingThe Priestly Blessing, , also known in Hebrew as Nesiat Kapayim, , or Dukhanen , is a Jewish prayer recited by Kohanim during certain Jewish services...
).)
The above sentences are all in the present tense. The use of the past tense subjunctive mood - like "hadde" from "hebben" (to have) and "mochte" from "mogen" (may) - is almost completely limited to law texts and poetry. Zijn (to be) is the sole exception: it is used frequently to indicate unreality, something that did not happen. It translates with the English past subjunctive 'were':
- Hij ware gekomen, als u hem geen pijn had gedaan. (He 'would have' come, if you had not hurt him.)
- De graaf sprak over de diefstal van honderd goudstukken als ware het een kleinigheid. (The count spoke about the theft of a hundred gold coins as if it 'were' a small thing.)
Latin and the Romance languages
The Latin subjunctive is mostly made of optative formsOptative mood
The optative mood is a grammatical mood that indicates a wish or hope. It is similar to the cohortative mood, and closely related to the subjunctive mood....
, while some of the original subjunctive forms went to make the Latin future tense
Future tense
In grammar, a future tense is a verb form that marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet, but expected to happen in the future , or to happen subsequent to some other event, whether that is past, present, or future .-Expressions of future tense:The concept of the future,...
, especially in the Latin third conjugation. In Latin, the *-i- of the old optative manifests itself in the fact that the Latin subjunctives typically have a high vowel even when the indicative mood has a lower vowel; Latin rogamus, "we ask", makes a subjunctive rogemus, "let us ask".
Latin 1st Conjugation Present Subjunctive
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First-Person | rogem | rogemus |
| Second-Person | roges | rogetis |
| Third-Person | roget | rogent |
Latin 2nd Conjugation Present Subjunctive
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First-Person | habeam | habeamus |
| Second-Person | habeas | habeatis |
| Third-Person | habeat | habeant |
Latin 3rd Conjugation Present Subjunctive
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First-Person | curram | curramus |
| Second-Person | curras | curratis |
| Third-Person | currat | currant |
Latin 3rdIO Conjugation Present Subjunctive
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First-Person | excipiam | excipiamus |
| Second-Person | excipias | excipiatis |
| Third-Person | excipiat | excipiant |
Latin 4th Conjugation Present Subjunctive
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First-Person | veniam | veniamus |
| Second-Person | venias | veniatis |
| Third-Person | veniat | veniant |
The subjunctive mood retains a highly distinct form for nearly all verbs in Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
and Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
(among other Latin languages), and for a number of verbs in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
. All of these languages inherit their subjunctive from Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, where the subjunctive mood combines both forms and usages from a number of original Indo-European inflection sets (described above), including the original subjunctive and the optative mood
Optative mood
The optative mood is a grammatical mood that indicates a wish or hope. It is similar to the cohortative mood, and closely related to the subjunctive mood....
.
In many cases, the Romance languages use the subjunctive in the same ways that English does; however, they use them in other ways as well. For example, English generally uses the auxiliary may or let to form desiderative
Desiderative
In linguistics, a desiderative form is one that has the meaning of "wanting to X". Desiderative forms are often verbs, derived from a more basic verb through a process of morphological derivation.-Sanskrit:...
expressions, such as "Let it snow". The Romance languages use the subjunctive for these; French, for example, would say, "Qu'il neige" and "Qu'ils vivent jusqu'à leur vieillesse". However, in the case of the first-person plural, these languages have imperative forms: "Let us go" in French is "Allons-y". In addition, the Romance languages tend to use the subjunctive in various kinds of subordinate clauses, such as those introduced by words meaning although English: "Although I am old, I feel young"; French: Bien que je sois vieux, je me sens jeune.
In Spanish, phrases with words like lo que (that which, what), quien (who), or donde (where) and subjunctive verb forms are often translated to English with some variation of "whatever". (Spanish: "lo que sea", English: "whatever", "anything"; Spanish: "donde sea", English: "wherever"; Spanish: "quien sea", English: "whoever"; Spanish: "lo que quieras", English: "whatever you may want"; Spanish: "cueste lo que cueste", English: "whatever it may cost".)
French
In French, despite the deep phonetic changes that the language has undergone from the original LatinLatin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, which include the loss of many inflections in the spoken language, the subjunctive (le subjonctif) remains prominent, largely because the subjunctive forms of many common verbs are strongly marked phonetically; compare the indicative je sais (I know) and its subjunctive counterpart que je sache. (However, the present indicatives and present subjunctives of most verbs are homonyms when they have singular subjects: je parle [I speak] is both the present indicative and the present subjunctive.)
Use of the subjunctive is in many respects similar to English:
- Jussive: Il faut qu'il comprenne ça.: "It is necessary that he understand this."
- Desiderative: Vive la reine !: "Long live the queen!"
But sometimes it is not:
- Desiderative: Que la lumière soit !: "Let there be light!"
- In certain, subordinate clauses:
- Bien que ce soit mon anniversaire... "Even though it is my birthday..."
- Avant que je ne m'en aille... "Before I go away..."
French also has an imperfect subjunctive, which in older, formal, or literary writing replaces the present subjunctive in a subordinate clause when the main clause is in a past tense:
- English: It was necessary that he speak (present subjunctive).
- Everyday modern French: Il était nécessaire qu'il parle (present subjunctive).
- Older, formal, or literary French: Il était nécessaire qu'il parlât (imperfect subjunctive).
Also in older, formal, or literary writing, the imperfect and pluperfect subjunctives double as a "second form" of the conditional and conditional perfect, in which case they are used in both the protasis
Protasis (linguistics)
In linguistics, a protasis is the subordinate clause in a conditional sentence. For example, in "if X, then Y", the protasis is "if X"...
and the apodosis
Apodosis
Apodosis may refer to:*In linguistics, the main clause in a conditional sentence*In logic, the apodosis corresponds to the consequent; ....
. It should be noted, however, that many modern-day grammarians reject the use of the term "second form of the conditional perfect" (which they believe leads only to confusion), preferring instead that the subjunctive mood be called simply the subjunctive mood:
- English: Had we known (pluperfect subjunctive), we could have prevented (conditional perfect) it.
- Everyday modern French: Si on l'avait su (pluperfect indicative), on aurait pu (conditional perfect) l'empêcher.
- Older, formal, or literary French: L'eussions-nous su (pluperfect subjunctive / conditional perfect, second form), nous l'eussions pu (pluperfect subjunctive / conditional perfect, second form) empêcher.
Italian
The Italian subjunctive (il congiuntivo) is similar to the French subjunctive in formation and use, but is somewhat more common.The subjunctive is used mainly in subordinate clauses following a set phrase or conjunction, such as benché, senza che, prima che, or perché for example. It is also used with verbs of doubt, possibility and expressing an opinion or desire, for example with credo che, è possibile che, and ritengo che, and with superlatives and virtual superlatives.
- English: The most beautiful girl I know.
- Italian: La ragazza più bella che io conosca.
One difference between the French subjunctive and the Italian is that Italian uses the subjunctive after expressions like "Penso che" ("I think that"), where French would use the indicative.
Present subjunctive
The present subjunctive is similar to, but still mostly distinguishable from, the present indicative. Subject pronouns are often used with the present subjunctive where they are normally omitted in the indicative, since in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd person singular forms are spelt the same, so the person is not implicitly implied from the verb. Irregular verbs tend to follow the 1st person singular form, such as the present subjunctive forms of andare, which goes to vada etc. (1st person sing form is vado).
The present subjunctive is used in a range of situations in clauses taking the subjunctive.
- English: "It is possible that they might have to leave".
- Italian: "È possibile che debbano partire".
- English: "My parents want me to play the piano".
- Italian: "I miei genitori vogliono che io suoni il pianoforte".
The present subjunctive is used mostly in subordinate clauses, as in the examples above. However, exceptions include imperatives using the subjunctive (using the 3rd person), and general statements of desire.
- English: "Be careful!"
- Italian: "Stia attento!"
- English: "Long live the republic!"
- Italian: "Viva la repubblica!"
Imperfect subjunctive
The Italian imperfect subjunctive is very similar in appearance to the French imperfect subjunctive, and forms are largely regular, apart from the verbs essere, dare and stare (which go to fossi, dessi and stessi etc.). However, unlike in French, where it is often replaced with the present subjunctive, the imperfect subjunctive is far more common. Verbs with a contracted infinitive, such as dire (short for dicere) revert to the longer form in the imperfect subjunctive (to give dicessi etc., for example).
The imperfect subjunctive is used in subordinate clauses taking the subjunctive where the sense of the verb requires the imperfect.
- English: "It seemed that Elsa was not coming."
- Italian: "Sembrava che Elsa non venisse."
- English: "The teacher slowed down, so that we would understand everything."
- Italian: "“L’insegnante rallentava, affinché capissimo tutti."
The imperfect subjunctive is used in “if” clauses, where the main clause is in the conditional tense, as in English and German.
- English: "If I had a lot of money, I would buy many cars."
- Italian: "Se avessi molti soldi, comprerei tante macchine."
- English: "You would know if we were lying."
- Italian: "Sapresti se mentissimo."
Perfect and pluperfect subjunctives
The perfect and pluperfect subjunctives are formed much like the indicative perfect and pluperfect, except the auxiliary (either avere or essere) verb takes the present and imperfect subjunctive respectively.
They are used in subordinate clauses which require the subjunctive, where the sense of the verb requires use of the perfect or pluperfect.
- English: "Although they had not killed the doctor, the police arrested the men."
- Italian: "Benché non avessero ucciso il medico, la polizia arrestò gli uomini."
- English: "I would have done it, provided you had helped me."
- Italian: "Lo avrei fatto, purché tu mi avessi assistito."
Spanish
In SpanishSpanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, the subjunctive (subjuntivo) is used in conjunction with impersonal expressions and expressions of emotion, opinion, or viewpoint. It is also used to describe situations that are considered unlikely or are in doubt, as well as for expressing disagreement, volition, or denial.
Many common expressions introduce subjunctive clauses. Examples include:
- Es una pena que... "It is a shame that..."
- Quiero que... "I want..."
- Ojalá... "I hope..." (literally: "God willing", but due to the Arabic origin most Spaniards do not know that it means this)
- Es importante que... "It is important that..."
- Me alegro de que... "I am happy that..."
- Es bueno que... "It is good that..."
- Es necesario que... "It is necessary that..."
- Dudo que... "I doubt that..."
Spanish has two past subjunctive forms. They are almost identical, except that where the "first form" has -ra-, the "second form" has -se-. Both forms are usually interchangeable although the -se- form may be more common in Spain than in other Spanish-speaking areas. The -ra- forms may also be used as an alternative to the conditional
Conditional mood
In linguistics, the conditional mood is the inflectional form of the verb used in the independent clause of a conditional sentence to refer to a hypothetical state of affairs, or an uncertain event, that is contingent on another set of circumstances...
in certain structures.
The present subjunctive
In Spanish, a present subjunctive form is always different from the corresponding present indicative form. For example, whereas English "that they speak" or French "qu'ils parlent" can be either indicative or subjunctive, Spanish "que hablen" is unambiguously subjunctive. (The corresponding indicative would be "que hablan".) The same is true for all verbs, regardless of their subject.
When to use:
- When there are two clauses, separated by que. However, not all "que" clauses require the subjunctive mood. They must have at least one of the following criteria.
- As the fourth edition of Mosaicos states, when the verb of the main clause expresses emotion. (E.g. fear, happiness, sorrow, etc.)
- Impersonal expressions are used in the main clause. (It's important that...)
- The verb in the second clause is the one that is in subjunctive!
Examples:
- Ojalá me compren (comprar) un regalo. (I hope that they will buy me a gift.)
- Te recomiendo que no corras (correr) con tijeras. (I recommend that you not run with scissors.)
- Dudo que el restaurante abra (abrir) a las seis. (I doubt that the restaurant might open at six.)
- Lo discutiremos cuando venga (venir). (We will talk about it when he/she comes.)
- Es importante que (nosotros) hagamos ejercicio. (It is important that we exercise.)
- Me alegro de que (tú) seas mi amiga. (I am happy that you are my friend.)
The past (imperfect) subjunctive
Used interchangeably, the past (imperfect) subjunctive can end either in "-se" or "-ra". Both forms stem from the third person plural (ellos, ellas, ustedes) of the preterite. For example, with the verb "estar", when conjugated in the third person plural of the preterite, it becomes "estuvieron". Then, drop the "-ron" ending, and add either "-se" or "-ra". Thus, it becomes "estuviese" or "estuviera". The past subjunctive may be used with "if... then" statements with the conditional mood
Conditional mood
In linguistics, the conditional mood is the inflectional form of the verb used in the independent clause of a conditional sentence to refer to a hypothetical state of affairs, or an uncertain event, that is contingent on another set of circumstances...
. Example:
- Si yo fuera/fuese el maestro, no mandaría demasiados deberes. (If I were the teacher, I would not give too much homework.)
The future subjunctive
In Spanish, the future subjunctive tense is now all but extinct. It is seldom heard in everyday speech, and is usually reserved for literature, archaic
Archaism
In language, an archaism is the use of a form of speech or writing that is no longer current. This can either be done deliberately or as part of a specific jargon or formula...
phrases and expressions, and legal documents. (The form is similar to the imperfect subjunctive, but with a "-re" ending instead of "-ra," "-res" instead of "-ras," and so on.) Example:
- Si así no lo hiciere, Dios y la patria me lo demanden. (If I don't do it, may God and the fatherland demand it from me.)
Phrases expressing the subjunctive in a future period normally employ the present subjunctive. For example: "I hope that it will rain tomorrow" would simply be "Espero que llueva mañana" (where llueva is the third-person singular present subjunctive of llover, "to rain"). The future subjunctive form of the verb would have been "lloviere".
The pluperfect (past perfect) subjunctive
In Spanish, the pluperfect subjunctive tense is used to describe a continuing wish in the past. "Desearía que (tú) hubieras ido al cine conmigo el viernes pasado." (I wish that you had gone to the movies with me last Friday). To form this tense in this mood, change the word haber to the subjunctive form and conjugate it, in this last example, we changed "haber" to "hubieras"; then add the participle form of the main verb (in this case ir, changing to "ido").
- Me gustaría que hubieras ido/hubieses ido, pero él suspendió su examen de matemáticas. (I like that you had gone, but he failed his math test.)
Though the "-re" form appears to be more closely related to the imperfect subjunctive "-ra" form than the "-se" form, that is not the case. The "-se" form of the imperfect subjunctive derives from the pluperfect subjunctive of Vulgar Latin and the "-ra" from the pluperfect indicative, combining to overtake the previous pluperfect subjunctive ending. The "-re" form is more complicated, stemming (so to speak) from a fusion of the perfect subjunctive and future perfect indicative—which, though in different moods, happened to be identical in the second and third persons—before losing the perfect in the shift to future subjunctive, the same perfect nature that was the only thing the forms originally shared. So the "-ra" and "-se" forms always had a past (to be specific, pluperfect) meaning, but only the "-se" form always belonged with the subjunctive mood that the "-re" form had since its emergence.
Portuguese
In PortuguesePortuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
, the subjunctive (subjuntivo (Brazil) or conjuntivo (Portugal)) is used to talk about situations which are seen as doubtful, imaginary, hypothetical, demanded, or required. It can also express emotion, opinion, disagreement, denial, or a wish. Its value is similar to the one it has in formal English:
- Command: Faça-se luz! "Let there be light!"
- Wish: Viva o rei! "Long live the king!"
- Necessity: É importante que ele compreenda isso. "It is important that he understand that."
- In certain, subordinate clauses:
- Ainda que seja meu aniversário... "Even though it be my birthday..."
- Antes que eu vá... "Before I go..."
As in Spanish, the imperfect subjunctive is in vernacular use, and it is employed, among other things, to make the tense of a subordinate clause agree with the tense of the main clause:
- English: It is [present indicative] necessary that he speak [present subjunctive]. → It was [past indicative] necessary that he speak [present subjunctive].
- Portuguese: É [present indicative] necessário que ele fale [present subjunctive]. → Era necessário [past (imperfect) indicative] que ele falasse [past (imperfect) subjunctive].
The imperfect subjunctive is also used when the main clause is in the conditional:
- English: It would be [conditional] necessary that he speak [present subjunctive].
- Portuguese: Seria [conditional] necessário que ele falasse [imperfect subjunctive].
Note that there are authors who regard the conditional of Portuguese as a 'future in the past' of the indicative mood, rather than as a separate mood; they call it futuro do pretérito ("future of the past"), especially in Brazil.
Portuguese differs from other Romance languages in having retained the medieval future subjunctive (futuro do subjuntivo), which is rarely used in Spanish and Galician
Galician language
Galician is a language of the Western Ibero-Romance branch, spoken in Galicia, an autonomous community located in northwestern Spain, where it is co-official with Castilian Spanish, as well as in border zones of the neighbouring territories of Asturias and Castile and León.Modern Galician and...
and has been lost in other West Iberian Romance
West Iberian languages
West Iberian is a branch of the Romance languages which includes Castilian, Ladino, the Astur-Leonese group , and the modern descendants of Galician-Portuguese...
languages. It expresses a condition that must be fulfilled in the future, or is assumed to be fulfilled, before an event can happen. Spanish and English will use the present tense in this type of clause.
For example, in conditional sentence
Conditional sentence
In grammar, conditional sentences are sentences discussing factual implications or hypothetical situations and their consequences. Languages use a variety of conditional constructions and verb forms to form such sentences....
s whose main clause is in the conditional, Portuguese, Spanish and English employ the past tense in the subordinate clause. Nevertheless, if the main clause is in the future, Portuguese will employ the future subjunctive where English and Spanish use the present indicative. (Note that English, when being used in a rigorously formal style, takes the present subjunctive in these situation, example: If I be, then...) Contrast the following two sentences.
- English: If I were [past subjunctive] king, I would end [conditional] hunger.
- Spanish: Si
- Portuguese: Se fosse [imperfect subjunctive] rei, acabaria com [conditional] a fome.
- English: If I am [present indicative] [technical English is "if I be" present subjunctive] elected president, I will change [future indicative] the law.
- Spanish: Si soy [present indicative] elegido presidente, cambiaré [future indicative] la ley.
- Portuguese: Se for [future subjunctive] eleito presidente, mudarei [future indicative] a lei.
The first situation is counterfactual
Counterfactual conditional
A counterfactual conditional, subjunctive conditional, or remote conditional, abbreviated , is a conditional statement indicating what would be the case if its antecedent were true...
; we know that the speaker is not a king. However, the second statement expresses a promise about the future; the speaker may yet be elected president.
For a different example, a father speaking to his son might say:
- English: When you are [present indicative] older, you will understand [future indicative].
- Spanish: Cuando seas [present subjunctive] mayor, comprenderás [future indicative].
- French: Quand tu seras [future indicative] grand, tu comprendras [future indicative].
- Portuguese: Quando fores [future subjunctive] mais velho, compreenderás [future indicative].
The future subjunctive is identical in form to the personal infinitive in regular verbs, but they differ in some irregular verbs of frequent use. However, the possible differences between the two tenses are due only to stem changes. They always have the same endings.
It is important to see how the meaning of sentences can change by switching subjunctive and indicative:
- Ele pensou que eu fosse alto (He thought that I was tall [and I am not])
- Ele pensou que eu era alto (He thought that I was tall [and I am or I am not sure whether I am or not])
- Se formos lá (If we go there)
- Se vamos lá (Every time we go there)
Romanian
Romanian is part of the Balkan Sprachbund and as such uses the subjunctive (conjunctivul) more extensively than other Romance languages. The subjunctive forms always include the conjunctionGrammatical conjunction
In grammar, a conjunction is a part of speech that connects two words, sentences, phrases or clauses together. A discourse connective is a conjunction joining sentences. This definition may overlap with that of other parts of speech, so what constitutes a "conjunction" must be defined for each...
să, which within these verbal forms plays the role of a morphological structural element. The subjunctive has two tenses: the past tense and the present tense.
Present subjunctive
The present subjunctive of the regular verbs is formed by adding specific endings to the stem of the infinitive (e.g. El vrea să cânte, he wants to sing). The actual verbal form is preceded by the conjunction să. The present tense is by far the most widely used of the two subjunctive tenses and is used frequently after verbs that express wish, preference, permission, possibility, request, advice, etc.: a vrea to want, a dori to wish, a prefera to prefer, a lăsa to let, to allow, a ruga to ask, a sfătui to advise, a sugera to suggest, a recomanda to recommend, a cere to demand, to ask for, a interzice to forbid, a permite to allow, to give permission, a se teme to be afraid, etc.
When used independently, the subjunctive indicates a desire, a fear, an order or a request, i.e. has modal
Modal verb
A modal verb is a type of auxiliary verb that is used to indicate modality -- that is, likelihood, ability, permission, and obligation...
and imperative
Imperative mood
The imperative mood expresses commands or requests as a grammatical mood. These commands or requests urge the audience to act a certain way. It also may signal a prohibition, permission, or any other kind of exhortation.- Morphology :...
values. The present subjunctive is used in questions having the modal value of should:
- Să plec? Should I leave?
- Să mai stau? Should I stay longer?
- De ce să plece? Why should he/she leave?
The present subjunctive is often used as an imperative, mainly for other persons than the 2nd person. When used with the 2nd person, it is even stronger than the imperative. The 1st person plural can be preceded by the interjection hai, which intensifies the imperative meaning of the structure:
- Să mergem! Let us go! or Hai să mergem! Come on, let's go!
- Să plece imediat! I want him to leave immediately!
- Să-mi aduci un pahar de apă! Bring me a glass of water!
The subjunctive present is used in certain set phrases used as greetings in specific situations:
- Să creşti mare! (to a child, after he / she declared his / her age or thanked for something)
- Să ne (să-ţi, să vă) fie de bine! (to people who have finished their meals)
- Să-l (să o, să le etc.) porţi sănătos / sănătoasă! (when somebody shows up in new clothes, with new shoes)
- Dumnezeu să-l (s-o, să-i, să le) ierte! (after mentioning the name of a person who died recently)
Past subjunctive
The past tense of the subjunctive mood has one form for all persons and numbers of all the verbs, which is să fi followed by the past participle of the verb. The past subjunctive is used after the past optative-conditional of the verbs that require the subjunctive (a trebui, a vrea, a putea, a fi bine, a fi necesar, etc.), in constructions that express the necessity, the desire in the past:
- Ar fi trebuit să fi rămas acasă. You should have stayed home.
- Ar fi fost mai bine să mai fi stat. It would have been better if we had stayed longer.
When used independently, the past subjunctive indicates a regret related to a past-accomplished action that is seen as undesirable at the moment of speaking:
- Să fi rămas acasă We should have stayed at home. (Note: the same construction can be used for all persons and numbers)
Welsh
In WelshWelsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
, there are two forms of the subjunctive: present and imperfect. The present subjunctive is barely ever used in spoken Welsh except in certain fixed phrases, and is restricted in most cases to the third person singular. However, it is more likely to be found in literary Welsh, most widely in more old-fashioned registers. The third person singular is properly used after certain conjunctions and prepositions but in spoken Welsh the present subjunctive is frequently replaced by either the infinitives, the present tense, the conditional, or the future tense (this latter is called the present-future by some grammarians).
| Present Indicative- 'to be' | Present Indicative- 'bod' | Present Subjunctive- 'to be' | Present Subjunctive- 'bod' |
|---|---|---|---|
| I am | (Ry)dw i/... ydw i | (that) I be | bwyf |
| Thou art | Rwyt ti/... wyt ti | (that) thou be[est] | bych |
| He is | Mae e/... ydy e | (that) he be | bo |
| One is | Ydys | (that) one be | bydder |
| We are | (Ry)dyn ni/...dyn ni | (that) we be | bôm |
| You are | (Ry)dych chi/...dych chi | (that) you be | boch |
| They are | Maen nhw/...dyn nhw | (that) they be | bônt |
| Literary English | Literary Welsh | Spoken English | Spoken Welsh |
|---|---|---|---|
| When need be | Pan fo angen | When there will be need | Pan fydd angen |
| Before it be | Cyn (y) bo | Before it is | Cyn iddi fod |
| In order that there be | Er mwyn y bo...yna | In order for there to be | Er mwyn bod...yna |
| She left so that she be safe | Gadawodd hi fel y bo hi'n ddiogel | She left so then she might be safe | Gadawodd hi fel efallai byddai hi'n ddiogel |
| It is time that I go | Mae'n amser yr elwyf | It is time for me to go | Mae'n amser i fi fynd |
The imperfect subjunctive, like English, only makes an effect on the verb bod- 'to be' and it is used after pe= 'if' and it must be accompanied with the conditional subjunctive e.g. Pe bawn i'n gyfoethog, teithiwn i trwy'r byd = If I were rich, I would travel throughout the world.
| Imperfect Indicative- 'to be' | Imperfect Indicative- 'bod' | Conditional Subjunctive- 'to be' | Conditional Subjunctive- 'bod' | Imperfect Subjunctive- 'to be' | Imperfect Subjunctive- 'bod' |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I was | Roeddwn i | I would be | Byddwn i | (that) I were | bawn i |
| Thou wast | Roeddet ti | Thou wouldst be | Byddet ti | (that) thou wert | baet ti |
| He was | Roedd e | He would be | Byddai fe | (that) he were | bai fe |
| One was | Roeddid | One would be | Byddid | (that) one were | baid |
| We were | Roedden ni | We would be | Bydden ni | (that) we were | baen ni |
| You were | Roeddech chi | You would be | Byddech chi | (that) you were | baech chi |
| They were | Roedden nhw | They would be | Bydden nhw | (that) they were | baen nhw |
For all other verbs in Welsh as in English, the imperfect subjunctive takes the same stems as do the conditional subjunctive and the imperfect indicative.
Scottish Gaelic
In Scottish Gaelic, the subjunctive does not exist but still takes the forms from the indicative: the present subjunctive takes the future indicative and the imperfect subjunctive takes the imperfect indicative. The subjunctive is normally used in proverbs or truisms in phrases that start with 'May...'For example,
- Gum bi Rìgh Ruisiart beò fada! Long live King Richard (lit. May King Richard live long).
- Gum bi beanachd Dè oirbh uile! May God bless you all!
- Gun gabh e a fhois ann sìth May he rest in peace
Or when used as the conjunction, the subjunctive is used, like every other language, in a more demanding or wishful statement:
- 'Se àm gum fàg e a-nis It is time that he leave now
- Tha e riatanach gun tèid iad gu sgoil gach là It is necessary that they go to school every day
- Dh'fhaighnich e nach faic mi ise He asked that I not see her
The subjunctive in Gaelic always will sometimes have the conjunction gun (or gum before words beginning with b, f, m or p) can be translated as 'that' or as 'May...' while making a wish. For negatives, nach is used instead.
| Present indicative- 'to be' | Present indicative- 'bi' | Present subjunctive- 'to be' | Present subjunctive- 'bi' |
|---|---|---|---|
| I am | Tha mi/ Is mise | (that) I be | (gum) bi mi |
| Thou art | Tha thu/ Is tusa | (that) thou be[est] | (gum) bi thu |
| He is | Tha e/ Is e | (that) he be | (gum) bi e |
| One is | Thathar | (that) one be | (gum) bithear |
| We are | Tha sinn/ Is sinne | (that) we be | (gum) bi sinn |
| You are | Tha sibh/ Is sibhsan | (that) you be | (gum) bi iad |
| They are | Tha iad/ Is iadsan | (that) they be | (gum) bi iad |
In Scottish Gaelic, the imperfect subjunctive is exactly the same as the indicative only that it uses 'robh' in both the affirmative and negative forms, as the interrogative does not exist in any subjunctive form in any language, of 'bi'- 'to be' although 'robh' is taken from the interrogative form in the imperfect indicative of 'bi'.
| Imperfect indicative- 'to be' | Imperfect indicative- 'bi' | Conditional subjunctive- 'to be' | Conditional subjunctive- 'bi' | Imperfect subjunctive- 'to be' | Imperfect subjunctive- 'bi' |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I was | Bha mi/ B'e mise | I would be | Bhithinn | (that) I were | (gun) robh mi |
| Thou wast | Bha tu/ B'e thusa | Thou wouldst be | Bhiodh tu | (that) thou wert | (gun) robh thu |
| He was | Bha e/ B'e esan | He would be | Bhiodh e | (that) he were | (gun) robh e |
| One was | Bhathar | One would be | Bhithear | (that) one were | (gun) robhar |
| We were | Bha sinn/ B'e sinne | We would be | Bhiodh sinn | (that) we were | (gun) robh sinn |
| You were | Bha sibh/ B'e sibhsan | You would be | Bhiodh sibh | (that) you were | (gun) robh sibh |
| They were | Bha iad/ B'e iadsan | They would be | Bhiodh iad | (that) they were | (gun) robh iad |
For every other verb in Gaelic, the same follows for the imperfect subjunctive where the interrogative or negative form of the verb is used for both the affirmative and negative form of the verb and, like Welsh, the imperfect subjunctive forms can be exactly the same as the conditional subjunctive forms apart from 'bi'.
Examples:
- Nan robh mi beartach, shiubhalainn air feadh an saoghal If I were rich, I would travel throughout the world
- Nan nach dèanadh mi m' obair-dhachaigh, bhithinn air bhith ann trioblaid If I had not done my homework, I would have been in trouble
Irish
In the Irish languageIrish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
(also known as Irish Gaelic), the subjunctive, like in Scottish Gaelic (its sister language), covers the idea of wishing something and so appears in some famous Irish proverbs and blessings. It's considered an old-fashioned tense for daily speech (except in set phrases) but still appears often in print.
The subjunctive is normally formed from "Go" (which eclipses, and adds "n-" to a verb beginning with a vowel), plus the subjunctive form of the verb, plus the subject, plus the thing being wished for. For instance, the subjunctive form of "teigh" (go) is "té":
- Go dté tú slán. -- May you be well.
(lit: may you go well)
Or again, the subjunctive of "tabhair" (give) is "tuga":
- Go dtuga Dia ciall duit. -- May God give you sense.
Or to take a third example, sometimes the wish is also a curse, like this one from Tory Island in Donegal:
- Go ndéana an Diabhal toirneach de d'anam in Ifreann. -- May the Devil make thunder of your soul in Hell.
The subjunctive is generally formed by taking the present indicative tense of the verb and adding on the appropriate subjunctive ending depending on broad or slender, and first or second conjugation. For example, the present tense first person singular of bog (to move) is bog mé and its subjunctive in the same person is boga mé:
1st Conjugation:
| mol (to praise) | mola mé | mola tú | mola sé/sí | molaimid | mola sibh | mola siad |
| bris (to break) | brise mé | brise tú | brise sé/sí | brisimid | brise sibh | brise siad |
2nd Conjugation:
| beannaigh (to bless) | beannaí mé | beannaí tú | beannaí sé/sí | beannaímid | beannaí sibh | beannaí siad |
| bailigh (to collect) | bailí mé | bailí tú | bailí sé/sí | bailímid | bailí sibh | bailí siad |
E.g. "go mbeannaí Dia thú" -- May God bless you.
There is also some irregularity in certain verbs in the subjunctive. The verb bí (to be) is the most irregular verb in Irish (as in most Indo-European languages):
| Present Indicative | tá mé/táim | tá tú | tá sé/sí | tá muid/táimid | tá sibh | tá siad |
| Present Subjunctive | raibh mé | raibh tú | raibh sé/sí | rabhaimid | raibh sibh | raibh siad |
The Irish phrase for "thank you" -- go raibh math agat—uses the subjunctive of "bí" and literally means "may there be good at-you".
Please note that some verbs don't follow the conjugation of the subjunctive exactly as conjugated above. These irregularities apply to verbs whose stem ends already in a stressed vowel and thus due to the rules of Irish orthography and pronunciation, can't take another. For example:
| Present Indicative | Present Subjunctive | |
|---|---|---|
| téigh (to go) | téann tú | té tú |
| sáigh (to stab) | sánn tú | sá tú |
| luigh (to lie down) | luíonn tú | luí tú |
| *feoigh (to decay; wither) | feonn tú | feo tú |
- Although, feoigh doesn't have a fáda (accent), the 'o' in this position is stressed and thus the subjunctive is irregular.
It is important to note that where the subjunctive is used in English, it may not be used in Irish and another tense might be used instead. For example:
- If I were (past subjunctive) you, I would study for the exam tomorrow. -- Dá mba (past/conditional of the copulaCopulaIn linguistics, a copula is a word used to link the subject of a sentence with a predicate . The word copula derives from the Latin noun for a link or tie that connects two different things.A copula is often a verb or a verb-like word, though this is not universally the case...
) mise tusa, dhéanfainn (conditional) staidéar ar don scrúdú amárach. - I wish *(that) you were (past sub.) here. -- Is mian liom go raibh (present sub.) tú anseo.
- It is important that he choose (present sub.) the right way—Tá sé tábhachtach go roghnaíonn (present indicative) sé ar an mbealach ceart.
- **When you're older (present ind.), you'll understand—Nuair a bheidh (future ind.) tú níos sine, beidh tú a thuiscint.
- *Note that in English, the relative pronoun that can be omitted, in Irish the corresponding go must be retained.
- **Note that in English, the present tense is often used to refer to a future state whereas in Irish there is less freedom with tenses (i.e. time is more strictly bound to the appropriate tense, present for present, past for past, future for future). In this particular example, you will be older and it is then that you will understand.
Arabic
In Standard/Literary Arabic the verb in its imperfective aspect has a subjunctive form called the form (منصوب). It is distinct from the imperfect indicative in most of its forms: where the indicative has "u," the subjunctive has "a"; and where the indicative has "na", the subjunctive has nothing at all (except in the 2nd and 3rd person plural feminine where the "na" of the indicative is retained).- Indicative 3 sing. masc. yaktubu "he writes / is writing / will write" → Subjunctive yaktuba "he may / should write"
- Indicative 3 plur. masc. yaktubūna "they write" → Subjunctive yaktubū "they may write"
- Indicative 3 plur. fem. yaktubna "they write" → Subjunctive yaktubna "they may write"
The subjunctive is used in that-clauses, after Arabic an: urīdu an aktuba "I want to write." However in conditional and precative sentences, such as "if he goes" or "let him go," a different form of the imperfective aspect, the jussive, majzūm, is used.
In many spoken Arabic dialects, there remains a distinction between indicative and subjunctive, however it is not through a suffix but rather a prefix.
Levantine Arabic
Levantine Arabic
Levantine Arabic is a broad variety of Arabic spoken in the 100 to 200 km-wide Eastern Mediterranean coastal strip...
, the indicative has b- while the subjunctive lacks it:
- 3 sing. masc. huwwe byuktob "he writes / is writing / will write" → yuktob "he may / should write"
- 3 plur. masc. homme byukotbu → yukotbu
Moroccalan Arabic uses ka- or ta-.
Egyptian Arabic
Egyptian Arabic
Egyptian Arabic is the language spoken by contemporary Egyptians.It is more commonly known locally as the Egyptian colloquial language or Egyptian dialect ....
uses a simple construction that precedes the conjugated verbs with (law "if") or (momken "may") the following are some examples:
- (Law' /Momken enti tiktebi. "If /Maybe you write") (s.f)
- (Law' /Momken enti ktebti . "If /Maybe you wrote") (s.f)
- (Law' /Momken enti konti tektebi."If /Maybe you would write") (s.f)
- (Law' /Momken enti ḥatktebi. "If /Maybe you will write") (s.f)
Hebrew
Final vowels disappeared from HebrewHebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
in prehistoric times, so the distinction between indicative, subjunctive and jussive is nearly blurred even in Biblical Hebrew. A few relics remain for roots with a medial or final semivowel, such as yaqūm "he rises / will rise" versus yaqom "may he rise" and yihye "he will be" versus yehi "may he be". In modern Hebrew the situation has been carried even further, with the falling into disuse of forms like yaqom and yehi; instead, the future tense (prefix conjugation) is used for the subjunctive, often with the particle she- added to introduce the clause, if it is not already present (similar to French que).
- "שיבוא" (Sheyavo) — "Let him come" or "May he come" (literally, "That (he) will come")
- "אני רוצה שיבוא" (Ani rotzeh sheyavo) — "I want him to come" (literally, "I want that (he)will come")
The Biblical subjunctive survives in the third person singular forms of the verbs to be (להיות — lihyot, יהי/תהי or יהא/תהא) and to live (לחיות — likhyot, יחי/תחי), mostly in a literary register
Register (linguistics)
In linguistics, a register is a variety of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting. For example, when speaking in a formal setting an English speaker may be more likely to adhere more closely to prescribed grammar, pronounce words ending in -ing with a velar nasal...
:
- "יחי המלך" (Y'khi ha-melekh) — "Long live the king" (literally, "Live the-king")
Hungarian
This mood in Hungarian is generally used to express polite demands and suggestions. The endings are identical between imperative, conjunctive and subjunctive; it is therefore often called the conjunctive-imperative mood.Examples:
- Add nekem! – 'Give it to me.' – demand
- Menjünk! – 'Let's go.' – suggestion
- Menjek? – 'Shall I go?' – suggestion/question
- Menj! – 'Go!' – demand
Note that "demand" is nowhere near as rude as it might come across in English. It is a polite but firm request, but not as polite as, say, "would you...".
The characteristic letter in its ending is -j-, and in the definite conjunctive conjugation the endings appear very similar to those of singular possession, with a leading letter -j-.
An unusual feature of the mood's endings is that there exist a short and a long form for the second person singular (i.e. "you"). The formation of this for regular verbs differs between the indefinite and definite: the indefinite requires just the addition of -j, which differs from the longer ending in that the last two sounds are omitted (-j and not -jél for example in menj above, cf. menjél). The short version of the definite form also drops two letters, but another two. It drops, for example: the -ja- in -jad, leaving just -d, as can be seen in add above (instead of adjad).
There are several groups of exceptions involving verbs that end in -t. The rules for how this letter, and a preceding letter, should change when the subjunctive endings are applied are quite complicated, see the article Hungarian verbs.
As usual, gemination of a final sibilant consonant is demonstrated when a j-initial ending is applied:
- mos + -jak gives mossak 'let me wash' (-j- changes to -s-)
When referring to the demands of others, the subjunctive is demonstrated:
- kérte, hogy menjek. 'He asked that I go. (He asked me to go.)' Here, "I go" is in the subjunctive.
See also
- Conditional sentenceConditional sentenceIn grammar, conditional sentences are sentences discussing factual implications or hypothetical situations and their consequences. Languages use a variety of conditional constructions and verb forms to form such sentences....
- Conditional moodConditional moodIn linguistics, the conditional mood is the inflectional form of the verb used in the independent clause of a conditional sentence to refer to a hypothetical state of affairs, or an uncertain event, that is contingent on another set of circumstances...
- Imperative moodImperative moodThe imperative mood expresses commands or requests as a grammatical mood. These commands or requests urge the audience to act a certain way. It also may signal a prohibition, permission, or any other kind of exhortation.- Morphology :...
- Subordinate clause
External links
- Subjunctive in English Englishpage.com's guide to the subjunctive
- The English subjunctive: scholarly opinions
- Subjunctive in Hungarian HungarianReference.com's guide to the subjunctive
- Introduction to the Subjunctive (as it relates to Spanish)
- The Subjunctive in German
- http://www6.ocn.ne.jp/~wil/ Hugh Wilkinson's papers including The Subjunctive in the Romance Languages