In grammar, the subjunctive mood (abbreviated sjv or sbjv) is a verb mood typically used in subordinate clauses to express a 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.
The reconstructed Proto Indo-European language is the hypothetical parent of many language families. These include the Romance languages, 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.
In the Germanic languages, 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.[1] Below are two tables showing the Old Norse active paradigm of the verb grafa, "to dig".
Present
| Person | Pronoun | Indicative | Subjunctive |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Sing. | ek | gref | grafa |
| 2nd Sing. | þú | grefr | grafir |
| 3rd Sing. | hann/hon/þát | grefr | grafi |
| 1st Pl. | vér/vit | gröfum | grafim |
| 2nd Pl. | þér/þit | grafið | grafið |
| 3rd Pl. | þeir/þær/þau | grafa | grafi |
Past
| Person | Pronoun | 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, 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.
The subjunctive in Modern English is easily distinguished in a great variety of contexts where the sense is past tense, but the form of the subjunctive verb required is the present: "It was required that we go to the back of the line." Were it not for the subjunctive, the form of "to go" for something in the past would be went. Compare with the indicative, "Everyone knows that we went to the back of the line."
| 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 |
I own he/she/it own we/you/they own |
I owned he/she/it owned we/you/they owned |
I owned he/she/it owned we/you/they owned |
I will/shall own he/she/it will own we/you/they will/shall own |
I were to own he/she/it were to own we/you/they were to own |
I do not own he/she/it does not own we/you/they do not own |
I not own he/she/it not own we/you/they not own |
| to be | I am he/she/it is we/you/they are |
I be he/she/it be we/you/they be |
I was he/she/it was we/you/they were |
I were he/she/it were we/you/they were |
I will/shall be he/she/it will be we/you/they will/shall be |
I were to be he/she/it were to be we/you/they were to be |
I am not he/she/it is not we/you/they are not |
I not be he/she/it not be we/you/they not be |
As shown in the above table, the form of the subjunctive is distinguishable from the indicative in four circumstances:
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), and waeron (am, art, are, were).
The modal auxiliaries do not have present subjunctive forms.
All Modern English modal auxiliary verbs are conjugated the same in both past and present indicative/subjunctive forms; therefore no change occurs.
Example: I can run quickly. ["can" is an indicative form] (formal form: I am able to run quickly.)
Example: I will do it so that I can go. ["can" is a subjunctive form] (formal form: I will do it so that I be able to go.)
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.
In German it is generally accepted that there are two forms of the subjunctive mood - Konjunktiv I ('present' subjunctive, often abbreviated as KI) and Konjunktiv II ('past' subjunctive, often abbreviated as KII), both of which can actually be expressed in (almost) all tenses.
The KI is normally used to express indirect (reported) speech. For example: Er sagte mir, er sei nicht bereit. — He told me that he was not ready. In this case, present subjunctive 'sei' replaces the present indicative 'ist.'
This carries a neutral to slightly disclaimerish meaning: the claim reported may be (to the reporter using Konjunktiv) true or not, or unknown.
If the speaker doubts the statement, Konjunktiv II may be used, however the usage of Konjunktiv forms does not always follow the principles strictly (Konjunktiv II may replace Konjunktiv I; Konjunktiv I sounds rather formal).
Es wurde gesagt, er habe keine Zeit für so (et)was. — It is said that he has no time for this kind of thing. In this case, present subjunctive 'habe' replaces the present indicative 'hat.'
Many examples of the subjunctive can be found in German newspapers and magazines.
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) deviates somewhat from this rule, producing ich sei; du sei(e)st; er sei; wir seien; ihr sei(e)t; sie seien. While the use of Konjunktiv I for reported speech is considered "correct" German, 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) and the future (er werde da sein) although the latter is rarely used. The Konjunktiv I in the preterite and conditional does exist, but they are identical to their indicative equivalents and are not worth considering in day-to-day communication.
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.
Although every German verb has a Konjunktiv II form, the most prevalent method of forming the conditional in spoken German is to render the verb werden (to become) in the Konjunktiv II form (würde) and append the infinitive of the action, as in An deiner Stelle würde ich ihm nicht helfen (I would not help him if I were you). In this example, the true Konjunktiv II form of the verb (hülfe) is almost completely obsolete and would sound extremely pretentious. However, the usage of "würde" to circumvent the Konjunktiv II forms of the verbs haben (hätte) and sein (wäre) can range from being awkward (in the Present Konjunktiv II) to outright impossible (in the Past-Time Konjunktiv II). A handful of verbs exist for which either construction can be used, such as with finden (fände) and tun (täte). With this handful of verbs, the actual Konjunktiv II forms are considered by many dictionaries to be the only proper term in 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.
Dutch 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:
The Latin subjunctive is mostly made of optative forms, 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
| 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, 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")
In French, despite the deep phonetic changes that the language has undergone from the original Latin, 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 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 :
For more on the subjunctive in French, see French verbs.
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.
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 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.
In Spanish, 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.
When to use:
How to form:
AR
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First-Person | e | emos |
| Second-Person | es | éis |
| Third-Person | e | en |
ER/IR
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First-Person | a | amos |
| Second-Person | as | áis |
| Third-Person | a | an |
The following are conjugations of the irregular verbs of the present subjunctive.
Ser
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First-Person | sea | seamos |
| Second-Person | seas | seáis |
| Third-Person | sea | sean |
Estar
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First-Person | esté | estemos |
| Second-Person | estés | estéis |
| Third-Person | esté | estén |
Ir
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First-Person | vaya | vayamos |
| Second-Person | vayas | vayáis |
| Third-Person | vaya | vayan |
Saber
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First-Person | sepa | sepamos |
| Second-Person | sepas | sepáis |
| Third-Person | sepa | sepan |
Dar
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First-Person | dé | demos |
| Second-Person | des | déis |
| Third-Person | dé | den |
Haber
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First-Person | haya | hayamos |
| Second-Person | hayas | hayáis |
| Third-Person | haya | hayan |
In addition, CAR/GAR/ZAR verbs have their own endings to maintain their "k", "g", and "s" sounds, respectively. For example:
Jugar
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First-Person | juegue | juguemos |
| Second-Person | juegues | juguéis |
| Third-Person | juegue | jueguen |
Tocar
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First-Person | toque | toquemos |
| Second-Person | toques | toquéis |
| Third-Person | toque | toquen |
Cruzar
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First-Person | cruce | crucemos |
| Second-Person | cruces | crucéis |
| Third-Person | cruce | crucen |
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, you 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 tense.
Example:
Spanish used to have a future subjunctive tense, but it is now all but extinct. It is never 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.) Phrases expressing the subjunctive in a future period instead 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."
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.[4]
In Portuguese, 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 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. (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.[5]
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 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.
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:
In Standard/Literary Arabic the verb in its imperfective 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", the subjunctive has nothing at all (except in the 2nd and 3rd person plural feminine where the "na" of the indicative is retained).
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 sufix but rather a prefix.
Levantine Arabic, the indicative has b- while the subjunctive lacks it:
Moroccan Arabic uses ka- or ta-.
Egyptian Arabic uses a simple construction that precedes the conjugated verbs with (law "if") or (momken "may")
Final vowels disappeared from Hebrew in prehistoric times, so the distinction between indicative, subjunctive and jussive is nearly very 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:
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 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 letters are omitted (-j and not -jel for example in menj above). The definite also drops two letters, but a different two. It drops, for example: the -ja- in -jad, leaving just -d, as can be seen in add above.
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. 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:
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- '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.
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,
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.
| 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:
In the Irish language (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.[7]
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:
| 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 mention; cite) | luíonn tú | luí tú |
| *feoigh (to decay; wither) | feonn tú | feo tú |
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:
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