Optative mood

Theoptative mood(/ˈɒptətɪv/or/ɒpˈteɪtɪv/;abbreviatedOPT) is agrammatical moodthat indicates a wish or hope regarding a givenaction.It is asupersetof thecohortative moodand is closely related to thesubjunctive moodbut is distinct from thedesiderative mood. English has no morphological optative, but various constructions impute an optative meaning. Examples of languages with a morphological optative mood areAncient Greek,Albanian,Armenian,Georgian,Friulian,Kazakh,Kurdish,Navajo,Old Prussian,Old Persian,Sanskrit,Turkish,andYup'ik.

English

Although English has no morphological optative, analogous constructions impute an optative meaning, including the use of certainmodal verbs:

• Mayyou have a long life!
• Would thatI were younger.

Periphrastic constructions includeif onlytogether with a subjunctive complement:

• If onlyI were rich!
• I would singif onlyI weren't tone deaf.

The optative mood can also be expressedelliptically:

• (May) God save the Queen!
• (Mayyou) Have a nice day.
• (May) God bless America.

The cohortative verb phraseslet's(orlet us) represent a syntactical mood as a subset of the optative mood:

• Let'stry it.
• Letus pray.

Indo-European languages

Proto-Indo-European

The optative is one of the four original moods ofProto-Indo-European(the other three being theindicative mood,thesubjunctive mood,and theimperative mood). However, many Indo-European languages lost the inherited optative, either as a formal category, or functional, i.e. merged it with the subjunctive, or even replaced the subjunctive with optative.

Albanian

InAlbanian,the optative (mënyra dëshirore,lit. "wishing mood" ) expresses wishes, and is also used in curses and swearing.

• Wish:U bëfsh 100 vjeç!(May you reach/live 100 years)
• Curse:Të marrtë djalli!(May the devil take you)

Ancient Greek

Main article:Optative (Ancient Greek)

InAncient Greek,the optative is used to express wishes andpotentialityinindependent clauses(but also has other functions, such as contrary-to-fact expressions in the present). Independent clauses(purpose,temporal,conditional,andindirect speech), the optative is often used underpast-tensemain verbs. The optative expressing a wish is on its own or preceded by the particle εἴθε (eithe). The optative expressing potentiality is always accompanied by the untranslatable particle ἄν in an independent clause and is on its own in a dependent clause.

Εἴθε

Eíthe

βάλλοις

bállois

Εἴθε βάλλοις

Eíthebállois

"If only you would throw."

Χαίροιμι

Khaíroimi

ἄν,

án,

εἰ

ei

πορεύοισθε

poreúoisthe

Χαίροιμι ἄν, εἰ πορεύοισθε

Khaíroimián,eiporeúoisthe

"I would be glad, if you could travel."

InKoine Greek,the optative began to be replaced by thesubjunctive;in theNew Testament,it was primarily used in set phrases.

Its endings are characterized by a diphthong such asοι(oi) inthematicverbs andιin athematic verbs.

Germanic languages

SomeGermanicverb forms often known assubjunctivesare actually descendants of theProto-Indo-Europeanoptative. TheGothicpresent subjunctivenimai"may he take!" may be compared to Ancient Greek present optativeφέροι"may he bear!"That the oldIndo-Europeanoptative is represented by thesubjunctiveis clear in Gothic, which lost the old, "true" Indo-European subjunctive that represented a fixed desire and intent. Its function was adopted by the present form of the optative that reflected only possibilities, unreal things and general wishes at first.

A Germanic innovation of form and functionality was the past tense of the optative, which reflected theirrealisof past and future. This is shown by evidence in theGothic language,Old High German,Old English,andOld Norse.This use of the (new) optative past tense as an irrealis mood started apparently after the Proto-Germanic past tense that had been once theperfect tensesupplanted the Indo-Germanaorist(compare Euler 2009:184).

A somewhat archaicDutchsaying, 'Leve de Koning' ( "long live the king" ) is another example of how the optative still is present in Germanic languages today.

Latin

Likewise in Latin, the newer subjunctive is based on the Indo-European optative. With this change in Latin, several old subjunctive forms became future forms. Accordingly, the prohibitive (negative desire and prohibition) was formed with the combination of *ne + verb form in the optative present.

Romanian

InRomanian,theconditionaland optative moods have identical forms, thus being commonly referred to as the conditional-optative mood.

Sanskrit

InSanskrit,the optative is formed by adding the secondary endings to the verb stem. It sometimes expresses wishes, requests and commands:bhares"may you bear" (active voice) andbharethās"may you bear [for yourself]" (middle). It also expresses possibilities (e.g.kadācid goṣabdena budhyeta"he might perhaps wake up due to the bellowing of cows" )or doubt and uncertainty (e.g.,katham vidyām Nalam"how would I be able to recognize Nala?" ). The optative is sometimes used instead of aconditional mood.

Basque

Zuberoandialect has a special mood, calledBotiboa(Votive), and unknown to the other dialects, used for making wishes. The auxiliary verb, whose characteristic is the prefixai-,always precedes the main verb and, in negative wishes, also the negative adverbez(meaningno, not):

• Ailü ikusi!('If she/he had only seen it/him/her!').
• Ailü ez ikusi!('If he/she hadn't only seen her/him/it!').

InStandard Basque,like in all the other dialects, such wishes are made with the particleahal,and the future indicative tense:

• Arazoa ikusiko ahal du!('I wish he/she saw the problem').
• Ez ahal du ikusiko!('I hope she/he will not see her/him/it'): in negative wishes, the particleahalgoes between the negative adverbezand the verbal auxiliary.

All the dialects have verbal forms in the imperative mood (Agintera), even for commands concerning the 3rd person, both singular and plural:

• Liburua ikus beza!('May he/she see the book!').
• Liburuak ikus bitzate!('May they see the books!').

For commands concerning the 1st person, present subjunctive forms are used:

• Liburua ikus dezadan!('Let me see the book! —it is not asking any listener for permission to see that book, but a personal wish').
• Liburuak ikus ditzagun!('Let's see the books!').

Finnish

InFinnish,the optative or the secondimperative,is archaic, mainly appearing inpoetry,and used insuppletionwith the first imperative. It is formed using thesuffixes-ko-and -kö-,depending onvowel harmony,whereas the first imperative uses the suffixes -ka-and -kä-,both cases subjected toconsonant gradation;for instance,kävellös(thou shalt walk) is the active voice second person singular in present optative of the verbkävellä(to walk), andällös käveleis the negative (don’t walk). (The corresponding first imperative forms arekäveleandälä kävele.)

Altogether there can be constructed 28 verb inflections in the optative, complete with active and passive voice, present and perfect, three person forms both in singular and plural and a formal plural form. Most, if not all, of these forms are, however, utterly rare and are not familiar to non-professionals. Only some expressions have remained in day-to-day speech; for instance, one can be heard to sayollos hyväinstead ofole hyvä( "you're welcome" or "here you go" ). This form carries an exaggerated, jocular connotation.

Optative formality can be expressed with the 1st and the 2nd imperative. For example, the ninth Article of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rightsbegins withÄlköön ketään pidätettäkö mielivaltaisesti,"Notanyoneshall be arrestedarbitrarily ", whereälköön pidätettäkö"shall not be arrested" is the imperative ofei pidätetä"is not arrested". (Also, using the conditional mood-isi-in conjunction with the clitic-payields an optative meaning, e.g.olisinpa"if I only were". Here, it is evident that the wish is not, and probably will not be, fulfilled.)

Japanese

The Japanese optative is formed by using a conditional such asba(-ば) ortara(-たら). For example, "I wish there were more time" is expressed literally as "If there were time, it would be good." ( thời gian があれば lương い の にJikan ga areba ii noni.), wherearu,the verb expressing existence, is in thebaconditional formareba.Iiis the present tense of "good," but if expressed in the past tenseyokattaよかった, the sentence expresses regret instead of a wish or hope. The above example would become "If there had been time, it would have been good" thời gian があればよかった の に, as might be said of an opportunity missed because of a lack of time.

The optative mood can also be expressed by suffi xing dạng にyō nito the verb, typically the polite form. For instance, "may you have a pleasant trip" lặc しい lữ になります dạng に.

Mongolian

The Mongolian optative or "wishing form" (Хүсэх Хэлбэр) is used largely to "tell another person about a wish not connected to the listener".Colloquially, however, it can also be used for a wishful second person imperative. It is formed by joining the suffix -аасай/-ээсэй/-оосой to the root stem of the verb. e.g. Үзэх= to see. үз—ээсэй.

Миний

Minii

дүнг

düng

ээж

eej

үзээсэй

üzeesei.

Миний дүнг ээж үзээсэй

Minii düng eej üzeesei.

"If only mum could see my results."

It can also be used to form wishes in the past tense.

Чи

Chi

ирсэн

irsen

баиж

baij

ч

ch

болоосой

boloosoi.

Чи ирсэн баиж ч болоосой

Chi irsen baij ch boloosoi.

"If only you had come."

Sumerian

InSumerian,the optative of the 1st person is formed differently from the other persons:

Person	Designation	Example (Sumerian)	Translation
1.	Cohortative/hortative	ga-na-b-dug	I want to say it to him/her
2./3.	Precative	ḫe-mu-ù-zu	You should experience it

Thereby, take note that the "normal" indicator of the 1st person in thecohortative(would be asuffix-en) is mostly omitted, as with the cohortativeprefix,the 1st person is already expressed. In the case of the precative, the personal indicator has to be used to differentiate between the 2nd and 3rd person.

Turkish

The optative in Turkish is part of thewish mood(dilek kipi) which reflects the command, desire, necessity, or wish. It has several semantic nuances. For instance, the word for "to come" (infinitive:gelmek) is modified in the optative togeleyim.This creates also a one-word sentence and means according to thecontext

• I may come.
• I come (sometime).
• I want to come (sometime).
• I should (sometime) come.

Desire mood

Takes the-aor-esuffix.

geleyim, kalasınız

may [I] come, may [you] stay

Wish-conditional mood

It takes the-saor-sesuffix. The following example reflect a wish:

gelse, kalsanız

if [he/she/it] would come, if [you] would stay

See also

• Permissive mood
• Hortative