Linguistic modalities and grammatical moods
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The subjunctive (also known as conjunctive in some languages) is a grammatical mood, a feature of an utterance that indicates the speaker's attitude toward it. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, obligation, or action that has not yet occurred; the precise situations in which they are used vary from language to language. The subjunctive is one of the irrealis moods, which refer to what is not necessarily real. It is often contrasted with the indicative, a realis mood which principally indicates that something is a statement of fact.
Subjunctives occur most often, although not exclusively, in subordinate clauses, particularly that-clauses. Examples of the subjunctive in English are found in the sentences "I suggest that you be careful" and "It is important that she stay by your side."
The Proto-Indo-European language, the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, 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[clarification needed] of secondary personal inflections. The optative was used to express wishes or hopes.
Among the Indo-European languages, only Albanian, Avestan, Ancient Greek, and Sanskrit kept the subjunctive and the optative fully separate and parallel. However, in Sanskrit, use of the subjunctive is found only in the Vedic language of the earliest times, and the optative and imperative are comparatively less commonly used. In the later language (from c. 500 BC), 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.
In the Germanic languages, subjunctives are also usually formed from old optatives (a mood that indicates a wish or hope), with the present subjunctive marked with *-ai- and the past with *-ī-. In German, these forms have been reduced to a schwa, spelled -e. The past tense, however, often displays i-umlaut. In Old Norse, both suffixes evolved into -i-, but i-umlaut occurs in the past subjunctive, which distinguishes them.[1]
The table below shows the Old Norse active paradigm (set of rules) for the verb grafa (“to dig”):
| Present | Past | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Person | Indicative | Subjunctive | Indicative | Subjunctive |
| 1st sing. | gref | grafa | gróf | grœfa |
| 2nd sing. | grefr | grafir | gróft | grœfir |
| 3rd sing. | grefr | grafi | gróf | grœfi |
| 1st pl. | grǫfum | grafim | grófum | grœfim |
| 2nd pl. | grafið | grafið | grófuð | grœfið |
| 3rd pl. | grafa | grafi | grófu | grœfi |
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Main article: English subjunctive |
In Modern English, the subjunctive is realised as a finite but tenseless clause where the main verb occurs in the bare form. Since the bare form is also used in a variety of other constructions, the English subjunctive is reflected by a clause type rather than a distinct inflectional paradigm.[2]
German has two forms of the subjunctive mood, namely Konjunktiv I (KI) 'present subjunctive' and Konjunktiv II (KII) 'past subjunctive'. Despite their English names, both German subjunctives can be used for past and present time.
Konjunktiv I
The present subjunctive occurs in certain expressions, (e.g. Es lebe der König! "Long live the king!") and in indirect (reported) speech. Its use can frequently be replaced by the indicative mood. For example, Er sagte, er sei Arzt ('He said he was a physician') is a neutral representation of what was said and makes no claim as to whether the speaker thinks the reported statement is true or not.
The past subjunctive can often be used to express the same sentiments: Er sagte, er wäre Arzt. Or, for example, instead of the formal, written Er sagte, er habe keine Zeit 'He said he had no time' with present subjunctive 'habe', one can use past subjunctive 'hätte': Er sagte, er hätte keine Zeit.
In speech, however, the past subjunctive is common without any implication that the speaker doubts the speech he is reporting. As common is use of the indicative Er sagte, er ist Arzt and Er sagte, er hat keine Zeit. This is often changed in written reports to the forms using present subjunctive.
The present subjunctive is completely regular for all verbs except the verb sein ("to be"). It is formed by adding -e, -est, -e, -en, -et, -en to the stem of the infinitive. The verb sein has the stem sei- for the present subjunctive declension, but it has no ending for the first and third person singular. While the use of present subjunctive 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 subjunctive 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 switch to the perfect tense, so that: "Er sagte: 'Ich war da.'" becomes "Er sagte, er sei da gewesen".
Konjunktiv II
The KII or past subjunctive is used to form the conditional tense and, on occasion, as a replacement for the present subjunctive when both indicative and subjunctive moods of a particular verb are indistinguishable.
Every German verb has a past subjunctive conjugation, but in spoken German the conditional is most commonly formed using würde (Konjunktiv II form of werden which in here is related to the English will or would rather than the literal 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 very unusual. However, using 'würde' instead of hätte (past subjunctive declension of haben 'to have') and wäre (past subjunctive declension of sein 'to be') can be perceived anywhere from awkward (in-the-present use of the past subjunctive) to incorrect (in the past subjunctive). 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 past subjunctive declension of such verbs the only proper expression in formal written German.
The past subjunctive is declined from the stem of the preterite (imperfect) declension of the verb with the appropriate present subjunctive declension ending as appropriate. 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.
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See also: German grammar |
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Main article: Subjunctive in Dutch |
Dutch has the same subjunctive tenses as German (described above), though they are rare in contemporary speech. The same two tenses as in German are sometimes considered a subjunctive mood (aanvoegende wijs) and sometimes conditional mood (voorwaardelijke wijs). In practice, potential subjunctive uses of verbs are difficult to differentiate from indicative uses. This is partly because the subjunctive mood has fallen together with the indicative mood:
Archaic and traditional phrases still contain the subjunctive mood:
Of these, the last 4 examples are still part of daily speech
Luxembourgish has the same subjunctive tenses as German (described above). For the periphrasis however, "géif" is used instead of "würde" or (dialectal) "täte".
The subjunctive mood is very rarely used in modern Swedish and is limited to a few fixed expressions like leve kungen, "long live the king". Present subjunctive is formed by adding the -e ending to the stem of a verb:
| Infinitive | Present tense indicative | Present tense subjunctive |
|---|---|---|
| att tala, "to speak" | talar, "speak(s)" | tale, "may speak" |
| att bli, "to become" | blir, "become(s)" | blive, "may become" (the -v- comes from the older form bliva) |
| att skriva, "to write" | skriver, "write(s)" | skrive, "may write" |
| att springa, "to run" | springer, "run(s)" | springe, "may run" |
| Infinitive | Past tense indicative | Supine indicative | Past tense subjunctive |
|---|---|---|---|
| att finnas, "to exist (be)" | fanns, "existed (there was)" | funnits, "has existed (there has been)" | om det funnes tid, "if only there were time" (changes past tense -a- to supine -u-) |
| att bli, "to become" | blev, "became" | blivit, "have/has become" | om det bleve så, "if only it became so" (regular: just appends -e to the past tense) |
| att skriva, "to write" | skrev, "wrote" | skrivit, "written" | om jag skreve ett brev, "if I should write a letter" (regular: appends -e) |
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Further information: Latin syntax § The subjunctive mood |
The Latin subjunctive has many uses, contingent upon the nature of a clause within a sentence:[3]
Within independent clauses:
Within dependent clauses:
Historically, the Latin subjunctive originates from the ancestral optative inflections, while some of the original subjunctive forms went on to compose the Latin future tense, especially in the Latin third conjugation.[citation needed] The *-i- of the old optative forms manifests itself in the fact that the Latin subjunctives typically have a high vowel even when the indicative mood has a lower vowel; for example, Latin rogamus, "we ask", in the indicative mood, corresponds to the subjunctive rogemus, "let us ask", where e is a higher vowel than a.
| Conjugation | 1st | 2nd | 3rd[4] | 3rdIO | 4th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st sing. | rogem | habeam | curram | excipiam | veniam |
| 2nd sing. | roges | habeas | curras | excipias | venias |
| 3rd sing. | roget | habeat | currat | excipiat | veniat |
| 1st plural | rogemus | habeamus | curramus | excipiamus | veniamus |
| 2nd plural | rogetis | habeatis | curratis | excipiatis | veniatis |
| 3rd plural | rogent | habeant | currant | excipiant | veniant |
The subjunctive mood retains a highly distinct form for nearly all verbs in Portuguese, Spanish and Italian (among other Romance 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, 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, says, "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" or sometimes an indefinite pronoun. Spanish "lo que sea", which is, by a literal interpretation, along the lines of "the thing which is", is translated as English "whatever" or "anything"; similarly, Spanish "donde sea" is English "wherever" and Spanish "quien sea" is English "whoever". For example, Spanish "lo que quieras", literally "that which you want", is translated as English "whatever you may want"; Spanish "cueste lo que cueste" is translated to English as "whatever it may cost"; and Spanish "donde vayas, voy" is translated to English as "wherever you go, I go".
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Main article: French verbs |
Present and past subjunctives
The subjunctive is used mostly with verbs or adverbs expressing desire, doubt or eventuality; it may also express an order. It is almost always preceded by the conjunction que (that).
Use of the subjunctive is in many respects similar to English:
Sometimes it is not:
| English | French | |
|---|---|---|
| It is important that she speak. (subjunctive) | Il est important qu'elle parle | |
| That the book pleases you does not surprise me. (indicative) | Que le livre te plaise ne me surprend pas. | |
| present subjunctive | ||
French uses a past subjunctive, equivalent in tense to the passé composé in the indicative mood, called "passé du subjonctif". It is the only other subjunctive tense used in modern-day conversational French. It is formed with the auxiliary être or avoir and the past participle of the verb. Unlike other Romance languages, such as Spanish, it is not always necessary that the preceding clause be in the past to trigger the passé du subjonctif in the subordinate clause:
| English | French | |
|---|---|---|
| It is important that she have spoken. (subjunctive) | Il est important qu'elle ait parlé. | |
| That the book pleased you does not surprise me. (indicative) | Que le livre t'ait plu ne me surprend pas. | |
| past subjunctive | ||
Imperfect and pluperfect subjunctives
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 (including in the French conditional, which is morphologically a future-in-the-past):
| English | French | |
|---|---|---|
| modern spoken | older, formal, or literary | |
| It was necessary that he speak | Il était nécessaire qu’il parle | Il était nécessaire qu’il parlât |
| I feared that he act so. | Je craignais qu'il agisse ainsi | Je craignais qu'il agît ainsi |
| I would want him to do it. | Je voudrais qu’il le fasse | Je voudrais qu’il le fît |
| present subjunctive | imperfect subjunctive | |
Pour une brave dame, / Monsieur, qui vous honore, et de toute son âme
Voudrait que vous vinssiez, à ma sommation, / Lui faire un petit mot de réparation.— Jean Racine (1669), Les Plaideurs, 2.4.16–19
[...] je voudrais que vous vinssiez une fois à Berlin pour y rester, et que vous eussiez la force de soustraire votre légère nacelle aux bourrasques et aux vents qui l'ont battue si souvent en France.
— Œuvres complètes de Voltaire (1828), Paris, page 595
J'aimerais qu'ils fissent leur début comme sous-maîtres dans les écoles importantes.
— Théodore Henri Barrau (1842), De l'éducation morale de la jeunesse, page 191
Je craignais que vous ne voulussiez pas me recevoir.
— Eugène Sue (1847), Martin et Bamboche, 3.3.7
Similarly, pluperfect subjunctive replace past subjunctive in same context:
| English | French | |
|---|---|---|
| modern spoken | older, formal, or literary | |
| It was necessary that you have spoken | Il était nécessaire que tu aies parlé | Il était nécessaire que tu eusses parlé |
| I regretted that you had acted so. | Je regrettais que tu aies agi ainsi | Je regrettais que tu eusses agi ainsi |
| I would have liked you to have done it. | J'aurais aimé que tu l'aies fait | J'aurais aimé que tu l'eusses fait |
| past subjunctive | pluperfect subjunctive | |
Ma lettre, à laquelle vous venez de répondre, à fait un effet bien différent que je n'attendois : elle vous a fait partir, et moi je comptois qu'elle vous feroit rester jusqu'à ce que vous eussiez reçu des nouvelles du départ de mon manuscrit ; au moins étoit-ce le sens littéral et spirituel de ma lettre.
— Montesquieu, Lettres familières, 18
The Italian subjunctive (congiuntivo) is commonly used, although, especially in the spoken language, it is sometimes substituted by the indicative.[5]
The subjunctive is used mainly in subordinate clauses following a set phrase or conjunction, such as benché, senza che, prima che, or perché. 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 sometimes with superlatives and virtual superlatives.
Differently from the French subjunctive, the Italian one is used after expressions like "Penso che" ("I think that"), where in French the indicative would be used. However, it is also possible to use the subjunctive after the expression "Je ne pense pas que..." ("I don't think that..."), and in questions like "Penses-tu que..." ("Do you think that..."), even though the indicative forms can be correct, too.
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 first, second and third person singular forms they are the same, so the person is not implicitly implied from the verb. Irregular verbs tend to follow the first person singular form, such as the present subjunctive forms of andare, which goes to vada etc. (first person singular 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 third person), and general statements of desire.
Imperfect subjunctive
The Italian imperfect subjunctive is very similar in appearance to (but used much more in speech than) 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.
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.
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Main article: Subjunctive mood in Spanish |
The subjunctive mood (subjuntivo) is a fundamental element of Spanish. Its spoken form makes use of it to a much larger degree than other Latin languages and it is in no case homonymous to any other mood. Furthermore, it is common to find long complex sentences almost entirely in the subjunctive.
The subjunctive is used in conjunction with impersonal expressions and expressions of emotion, opinion, desire or viewpoint. More importantly, it applies to most hypothetical situations, likely or unlikely, desired or not. Normally, only certitude of (or statement of) a fact will remove the possibility of its use. Unlike French, it is also used in phrases expressing the past conditional. The negative of the imperative shares the same form with the present subjunctive.
Common introductions to the subjunctive would include the following:
Nevertheless, the subjunctive can stand alone to supplant other tenses.
For example, "I would like" can be said in the conditional Querría or in the past subjunctive Quisiera, as in Quisiera (past subjunctive) que vinieras (past subjunctive), i.e. "I would like you to come".
Comfort with the subjunctive form and the degree to which a second-language speaker attempts to avoid its use can be an indicator of the level of proficiency in the language. Complex use of the subjunctive is a constant pattern of everyday speech among native speakers but difficult to interiorize even by relatively proficient Spanish learners (e.g. I would have liked you to come on Thursday: Me habría gustado (conditional perfect) que vinieras (past subjunctive) el jueves.
An example of the subtlety of the Spanish subjunctive is the way the tense (past, present or future) modifies the expression "be it as it may" (literally "be what it be"):
The same alterations could be made to the expression Sea como sea or "no matter how" with similar changes in meaning.
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.
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:
Examples:
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, the verb "estar", when conjugated in the third-person plural of the preterite, 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:
Future subjunctive
In Spanish, the future subjunctive tense is now rare but still used in certain dialects of Spanish and in formal speech. It is usually reserved for literature, archaic phrases and expressions, and legal documents. (The form is similar to the "-ra" form of 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").
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, first the subjunctive form of haber is conjugated (in the example above, "haber" becomes "hubieras"). Then the participle of the main verb (in this case is added, "ir" becomes "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.[6]
In Portuguese, as in Spanish, the subjunctive (subjuntivo or conjuntivo) is complex, being generally 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:
Present subjunctive
Imperfect (past) subjunctive
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:
There are authors[who?] 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.
Future subjunctive
Portuguese differs from other Ibero-Romance languages in having retained the medieval future subjunctive (futuro do subjuntivo), which is rarely used in Spanish and has been lost in other West Iberic 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 sentences 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. (English, when being used in a rigorously formal style, takes the present subjunctive in these situations, example: "Should I be, then...") Contrast the following two sentences.
The first situation is counterfactual; the listener knows 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.
The meaning of sentences can change by switching subjunctive and indicative:
Below, there is a table demonstrating subjunctive and conditional conjugation for regular verbs of the first paradigm (-ar), exemplified by falar (to speak) .
| Grammatical person | Past subjunctive | Present subjunctive | Future subjunctive | Conditional (future of past) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eu | falasse | fale | falar | falaria |
| Tu | falasses | fales | falares | falarias |
| Ele/Ela | falasse | fale | falar | falaria |
| Nós | falássemos | falemos | falarmos | falaríamos |
| Vós | falásseis | faleis | falardes | falaríeis |
| Eles/Elas | falassem | falem | falarem | falariam |
Compound subjunctives
Compound verbs in subjunctive are necessary in more complex sentences, such as subordinate clauses with embedded perfective tenses e.g., perfective state in the future. To form compound subjunctives auxiliar verbs (ter or haver) must conjugate to the respective subjunctive tense, while the main verbs must take their participles.
| Grammatical person | Past subjunctive | Present subjunctive | Future subjunctive | Conditional |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eu | houvesse/tivesse falado | haja/tenha falado | houver/tiver falado | haveria/teria falado |
| Tu | houvesses/tivesses falado | hajas/tenhas falado | houveres/tiveres falado | haverias/terias falado |
| Ele/Ela | houvesse/tivesse falado | haja/tenha falado | houver/tiver falado | haveria/teria falado |
| Nós | houvéssemos/tivéssemos falado | hajamos/tenhamos falado | houvermos/tivermos falado | haveríamos/teríamos falado |
| Vós | houvésseis/tivésseis falado | hajais/tenhais falado | houverdes/tiverdes falado | haveríeis/teríeis falado |
| Eles/Elas | houvessem/tivessem falado | hajam/tenham falado | houverem/tivermos falado | haveriam/teriam falado |
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Main article: Romanian verbs |
Romanian is part of the Balkan Sprachbund and as such uses the subjunctive (conjunctiv) more extensively than other Romance languages. The subjunctive forms always include the conjunction 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. It is usually used in subordinate clauses.
Present subjunctive
The present subjunctive is usually built in the 1st and 2nd person singular and plural by adding the conjunction să before the present indicative (indicative: am I have; conjunctive: să am (that) I have; indicative: vii you come; conjunctive: să vii (t/hat) you come). In the 3rd person most verbs have a specific conjunctive form which differs from the indicative either in the ending or in the stem itself; there is however no distinction between the singular and plural of the present conjunctive in the 3rd person (indicative: are he has; conjunctive: să aibă (that) he has; indicative: au they have; conjunctive: să aibă (that) they have; indicative: vine he comes; conjunctive: să vină (that) he comes; indicative: vin they come; conjunctive: să vină (that) they come).
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 second person. When used with the second person, it is even stronger than the imperative. The first-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:
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:
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:
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See also: Literary Welsh morphology and Colloquial Welsh morphology |
In Welsh, 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 | Present subjunctive | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Welsh | English | Welsh |
| I am | (Ry)dw i/... ydw i | (that) I be | bwyf, byddwyf |
| Thou art | (R)wyt ti/... wyt ti | (that) thou be[est] | bych, byddych |
| He is | Mae e/... ydy e Mae o/...ydy o |
(that) he be | bo, byddo |
| One is | Ydys | (that) one be | bydder |
| We are | (Ry)dyn ni/...dyn ni (Ry)dan ni/... dan ni |
(that) we be | bôm, byddom |
| You are | (Ry)dych chi/...dych chi (Ry)dach chi/... dach chi |
(that) you be | boch, byddoch |
| They are | Maen nhw/...dyn nhw | (that) they be | bônt, byddont |
| Literary English | Literary Welsh | Spoken English | Spoken Welsh |
|---|---|---|---|
| When need be | Pan fo angen | When there'll be need | Pan fydd angen |
| Before it be | Cyn (y) bo | Before it's | Cyn iddi fod |
| In order that there be | Fel y bo | In order for there to be | Er mwyn bod |
| She left so that she be safe | Gadawodd hi fel y bo hi'n ddiogel | She left so that she'd be safe | Gadawodd hi fel y byddai hi'n ddiogel |
| It is time that I go | Mae'n amser yr elwyf | It's time for me to go | Mae'n amser imi fynd |
The imperfect subjunctive, as in English, only affects the verb bod ("to be"). It is used after pe (a form of "if") and it must be accompanied by 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 | Conditional subjunctive | Imperfect subjunctive | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | Welsh | English | Welsh | English | Welsh |
| I was | (R)oeddwn i | I would be | byddwn i | (that) I were | bawn i |
| Thou wast | (R)oeddet ti | Thou wouldst be | byddet ti | (that) thou wert | baet ti |
| He was She was |
(R)oedd e/o (R)oedd hi |
He would be She would be |
byddai fe/fo byddai hi |
(that) he were (that) she were |
bai fe/fo bai hi |
| One was | (R)oeddid | One would be | byddid | (that) one were | byddid |
| We were | (R)oeddem ni | We would be | byddem ni | (that) we were | baem ni |
| You were | (R)oeddech chi | You would be | byddech chi | (that) you were | baech chi |
| They were | (R)oedden nhw | They would be | bydden nhw | (that) they were | baent hwy |
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.
In Scottish Gaelic, the subjunctive does exist but still takes the forms from the indicative: the present subjunctive takes the (dependent) future forms and the past subjunctive takes the conditional forms. The subjunctive is normally used in proverbs or truisms in phrases that start with 'May...' 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 will sometimes have the conjunction gun (or gum before verbs beginning with labial consonants: p, b, m or f) can be translated as 'that' or as 'May ...' while making a wish. For negatives, nach is used instead.
Note that the present subjunctive is identical to the dependent future tense form, which lacks the ending -idh!
| Present indicative | Future | Present subjunctive | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | Gaelic | English | Gaelic | English | Gaelic |
| I am | Tha mi/ Is mise | I will be | Bidh mi | (that) I be | (gum) bi mi |
| Thou art | Tha thu/ Is tusa | Thou wilt be | Bidh tu | (that) thou be[est] | (gum) bi thu |
| He is | Tha e/ Is e | He will be | Bidh e | (that) he be | (gum) bi e |
| One is | Thathar | One will be | Bithear | (that) one be | (gum) bithear |
| We are | Tha sinn/ Is sinne | We will be | Bidh sinn | (that) we be | (gum) bi sinn |
| You are | Tha sibh/ Is sibhse | You will be | Bidh sibh | (that) you be | (gum) bi iad |
| They are | Tha iad/ Is iadsan | They will be | Bidh iad | (that) they be | (gum) bi iad |
In Scottish Gaelic, the past subjunctive of the verb bi 'be' is robh, exactly the same as the dependent form of the preterite indicative.
| Preterite indicative | Conditional | Past subjunctive | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | Gaelic | English | Gaelic | English | Gaelic |
| I was | Bha mi/ Bu mhise | I would be | Bhithinn | (that) I were | (gun) robh mi |
| Thou wast | Bha thu/ Bu tusa | Thou wouldst be | Bhiodh tu | (that) thou wert | (gun) robh thu |
| He was | Bha e/ B' e | He would be | Bhiodh e | (that) he were | (gun) robh e |
| One was | Bhathar | One would be | Bhite | (that) one were | (gun) robhas |
| We were | Bha sinn/ Bu sinne | We would be | Bhiodh sinn | (that) we were | (gun) robh sinn |
| You were | Bha sibh/ Bu sibhse | You would be | Bhiodh sibh | (that) you were | (gun) robh sibh |
| They were | Bha iad/ B' iadsan | They would be | Bhiodh iad | (that) they were | (gun) robh iad |
For every other verb in Gaelic, the past subjunctive is identical to the conditional.
Examples:
Or: Mura robh mi air m' obair-dhachaigh a dhèanamh, bhithinn (air a bhith) ann an trioblaid.
In the Irish language (Gaeilge), 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 is considered an old-fashioned tense for daily speech (except in set phrases) but still appears often in print.[8]
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 "téigh" (go) is "té":
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 stem of the verb and adding on the appropriate subjunctive ending depending on broad or slender, and first or second conjugation. For example, to the stem of bog (to move) is added -a giving as its subjunctive in the first person boga mé:
First 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 |
Second 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 maith agat – uses the subjunctive of "bí" and literally means "may there be good at-you".
Some verbs do not 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, cannot 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 |
Where the subjunctive is used in English, it may not be used in Irish and another tense might be used instead. For example:
There are two subjunctive moods in Hindi-Urdu (Hindustani), first the regular subjunctive and the second, the perfective subjunctive which superficially has the same form as the perfective aspect forms of verbs but still expresses future events, it is only ever used with if clauses and relative pronouns. In a semantic analysis, this use of the perfective aspect marker would not be considered perfective, since it is more closely related to subjunctive usage. Only the superficial form is identical to that of the perfective.[10]
The regular subjunctive mood can be put in two tenses; present and future.[10] There is another mood, called the contrafactual mood, which serves as both the past subjunctive and the past conditional mood in Hindustani.[11] Hindi-Urdu, apart from the non-aspectual forms (or the simple aspect) has three grammatical aspects (habitual, perfective & progressive) and each aspect can be put five grammatical moods (indicative, presumptive, subjunctive, contrafactual & imperative). The subjunctive mood can be put in the present tense only for the verb honā (to be) for any other verb only the future sujunctive form exists. Subjunctive mood forms for all the three grammatical aspects of Hindustani for the verbs honā (to be) and karnā (to do) are shown in the table below.
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| 1 The pronouns tum and āp in Hindi-Urdu can be used as both singular and plural pronouns, akin to the English pronoun "you". | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 Habitual aspect in Hindi-Urdu requires the copula rêhnā (to stay) to form future tense forms, progressive and perfective mood can use rêhnā (to stay) as well to form synonymous future subjunctive forms. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 Unlike English, in which both the continuous and the progressive aspect have the same -ing form, the progressive aspect of Hindi-Urdu cannot convey the continuous aspect. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 Perfective aspect in Hindi-Urdu requires the perfective past forms of the copula rêhnā (to stay) to form the perfective (future) subjunctive forms. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Example Sentences | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hindi-Urdu | Sentence Structure | English | |||
| Subjunctive | Regular | Present | uskī tabiyat sahī ho bas. | [his/her].GEN [health].NOM [correct].ADJ [be].SUBJ.PRS [only] | (I only hope that) his/her health is in good condition. |
| Future | ummīd kar rahī hū̃ ki bole vo kuch use. | [hope] [do] [stay].PTCP [be].1P.SG. [that] [tell].SUBJ.FUT. [he/she].NOM [something] [him/her].DAT | I am hoping he/she tells something to him/her. | ||
| Perfective | Future | ma͠i usse pūchū̃ aur usne nahī̃ batāyā to? | [I].NOM [him/her].INST [ask].1P.SUBJ.SG [and] [he/she].ERG [not] [tell].SUBJ.PRV.FUT [then] | (In the case that) I ask him and he doesn't tell (me) then? | |
| Contrafactual | Past | kāsh usne usī din ye bāt batā dī hotī. | [I wish] [he/she].ERG [that].DEM.EMPH [day].NOM [this].DEM [matter].NOM.FEM [tell].CONTRA.FEM | I wish he/she had told me about this thing on that day itself. | |
The Slavic languages lost the Proto-Indo-European subjunctive altogether, while the old optative was repurposed as the imperative mood. Some modern Slavic languages have developed a new subjunctive-like construction,[12][13] although there is no consistent terminology. For example, some authors do not distinguish the subjunctive mood from the optative ("wishing") mood,[14] others do.[15]
The subjunctive mood is formed using the by particle, either alone or forming a single word with the complex conjunctions żeby, iżby, ażeby, aby, coby.[15][16] The mood does not have its own morphology, but instead a rule that the by-containing particle must be placed in front of the dependent clause.[12] Compare:
The subjunctive mood in the dependent clause is obligatory in the case of certain independent clauses, for example it is incorrect to say chcę, że to zrobi, but the subjunctive mood must be used instead: chcę, by to zrobił.
The subjunctive can never be mistaken with the conditional,[12] despite that in the case of the conditional mood the clitic by and derivatives can move. See that in the following examples:
There is no conjunction, which would indicate the subjunctive. In particular, there is no żeby.
Compare to the closely related optative mood, e.g. the subjunctive nie nalegam, by wysłał list vs the optative oby wysłał list.
Modal distinctions in subordinate clauses are expressed not through verb endings, but through the choice of complementizer - че (che) or да (da) (which might both be translated with the relative pronoun "that"). The verbs remain unchanged. In ordinary sentences, the imperfective aspect is most often used for the indicative, and the perfective for the subjunctive, but any combination is possible, with the corresponding change in meaning.
The latter is more insisting, since the imperfective is the more immediate construction. Thus:
In Standard/Literary Arabic, the verb in its imperfect aspect (al-muḍāri‘) has a subjunctive form called the manṣūb 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" or "-ni", the subjunctive has nothing at all. (The "-na" ending in the second and third-person plural feminine is different: it marks the gender and number, not the mood, and therefore it is there in both the indicative and subjunctive.)
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 mood of the imperfect 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.
In Levantine Arabic, the indicative has b- while the subjunctive lacks it:
Egyptian Arabic uses a simple construction that precedes the conjugated verbs with (law "if") or (momken "may"); the following are some examples:
Tunisian Arabic often precedes the imperfective indicative verb by various conjunctions to create the subjunctive:
Ma:
Literally: not at.you subj_tool you_write
Ken for wish, hope or opinion:
Taw for a highly-expected possibility:
Ra for inevitability but it's, in most cases, accompanied with "ken" in the other clause:
Final short vowels were elided in Hebrew in prehistoric times, so that the distinction between the Proto-Semitic indicative, subjunctive and jussive (similar to Classical Arabic forms) had largely been lost even in Biblical Hebrew. The distinction does remain for some verbal categories, where the original final morphemes effected lasting secondary changes in word-internal syllabic structure and vowel length. These include weak roots with a medial or final vowel, such as yaqūm "he rises / will rise" versus yaqom "may he rise" and yihye "he will be" versus yehi "may he be", imperfect forms of the hiphil stem, and also generally for first person imperfect forms: אֵשֵׁב (imperfect indicative of 'sit') vs. אֵשְׁבָה (imperfect cohortative=volitive of 'sit'). In modern Hebrew, the situation has been carried even further, with forms like yaqom and yehi becoming non-productive; 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).
Biblical subjunctive forms survive in non-productive phrases in such forms as the third-person singular of to be (להיות – lihyot, יהי/תהי or יהא/תהא) and to live (לחיות – likhyot, יחי/תחי), mostly in a literary register:
Subordinate clauses in Babylonian and Standard Babylonian Akkadian are marked with a -u on verbs ending in a consonant, and with nothing after vocalic endings or after ventive endings. Due to the consonantal structure of semitic languages, and Akkadian sound laws, the addition of the -u might trigger short vowels in the middle of the word to disappear. Assyrian Akkadian uses a more complicated system with both -u and -ni as markers of subordination. The ending -ni was used in the instances where -u could not be used as stated above. During Middle and Neo Assyrian the -ni ending became compulsory on all subordinate verbs, even those that already had the -u, resulting in -ni and-ūni as markers of subordination.[17]
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:
Note that "demand" is nowhere near as rude as it might sound 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:
There is no one-to-one relationship between the subjunctive mode in foreign languages and the modes in Turkish. The subjunctive mode of other languages can be compared with the imperative mood (emir kipi),[18] the necessitative mood (gereklilik kipi),[19][20] the optative mood (istek kipi),[21][22] desiderative mood (dilek kipi),[23][24] conditional mood (şart kipi)[25] in Turkish. Of the above 5 moods, 3 moods (istek kipi, şart kipi, dilek kipi) are additionally translated as "subjunctive mode " too.
Examples of the optative mood (istek kipi) are gideyim (Let me go), gitsin (Let him go), gidelim (Let us go), gitsinler (Let them go).[26] Suggested actions and desires are expressed with the optative verb. The suffixes -(y)eyim, -(y)elim, and other forms are used to form an optative verb. The Turkish optative means 'let someone do something' in English. Forming the optative:[27]
An example of a conditional mode (şart kipi) is: Çalışırsa kazanır (If he works, he wins. (simple present), he will win (simple future)), çalıştıysa kazanır (If he has worked, he might win. (simple present)).[28]
An examples of a necessitative mood (gereklilik kipi) is: Benim gelmem gerek (I must/ have to come), Dün toplantıya katılman gerekirdi (You should have attended the meeting yesterday. (but you didn't)).[29][30]
An example of an imperative mode (emir kipi) is: siz gelin (Let you come), onlar gelsinler (Let them come).[31]
An examples of a desiderative mood (dilek kipi) is: Ah! şimdi burada olsaydı (Oh! If/ if only he were here now); Keşke burada olaydı (I wish he were here).;[32] Keşke arabam olsa da otobüse binmesem (I wish I had a car, so I don't (need to) get on the bus.); Keşke arabam olsaydı da otobüse binmeseydim (I wish I had a car, so I didn't (need to) get on the bus.); Keşke arabam olsa o zaman otobüse binmem(If I had a car, I wouldn't get on the bus.); Keşke arabam olsaydı o zaman otobüse binmezdim(I wish I had a car then I wouldn't get on the bus).