Subjunctive mood

Thesubjunctive(also known asconjunctivein some languages) is agrammatical mood,a feature of an utterance that indicates the speaker's attitude toward it. Subjunctive forms ofverbsare typically used to express various states ofunrealitysuch 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 theirrealis moods,which refer to what is not necessarily real. It is often contrasted with theindicative,arealis moodwhich principally indicates that something is a statement of fact.

Subjunctives occur most often, although not exclusively, insubordinate clauses,particularlythat-clauses.Examples of thesubjunctive in Englishare found in the sentences "I suggest that youbecareful "and" It is important that shestayby your side. "

Indo-European languages

Proto-Indo-European

TheProto-Indo-European language,the reconstructed common ancestor of theIndo-European languages,had two closely related moods: the subjunctive and theoptative.Many of its daughter languages combined or merged these moods.

In Indo-European, the subjunctive was formed by using the fullablautgrade of the root of the verb and appending thethematic vowel*-e-or *-o-to the root stem, with the full, primary set of personal inflections. The subjunctive was the Indo-Europeanirrealis,used for hypothetical or counterfactual situations.

The optative mood was formed with a suffix *-ieh₁or *-ih₁(with alaryngeal). The optative used thecliticsetof secondary personal inflections. The optative was used to express wishes or hopes.

Among the Indo-European languages, onlyAlbanian,Avestan,Ancient Greek,andSanskritkept 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 andimperativeare 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.

Germanic languages

In theGermanic languages,subjunctives are also usually formed from oldoptatives(a mood that indicates a wish or hope), with the present subjunctive marked with *-ai-and the past with *-ī-.InGerman,these forms have been reduced to aschwa,spelled-e.The past tense, however, often displays i-umlaut.InOld Norse,both suffixes evolved into-i-,but i-umlaut occurs in the past subjunctive, which distinguishes them.

Old Norse activeparadigm(set of rules)
for the verbgrafa( “to dig” )

	Present		Past
Person	Indicative	Subjunctive	Indicative	Subjunctive
1st singular	gref	grafa	gróf	grœfa
2nd singular	grefr	grafir	gróft	grœfir
3rd singular	grefr	grafi	gróf	grœfi
1st plural	grǫfum	grafim	grófum	grœfim
2nd plural	grafið	grafið	grófuð	grœfið
3rd plural	grafa	grafi	grófu	grœfi

English

Main article:English subjunctive

InModern English,the subjunctive is realised as afinitebut tenselessclausewhere the main verb occurs in thebareform. 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.

German

Germanhas two forms of the subjunctivemood,namelyKonjunktiv I(KI) 'present subjunctive' andKonjunktiv 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, writtenEr sagte, er habe keine Zeit'He said he had no time' with present subjunctivehabe,one can use past subjunctivehätte:Er sagte, erhättekeine 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 indicativeEr sagte, er ist ArztandEr 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 verbsein( "to be" ). It is formed by adding-e, -est, -e, -en, -et, -ento the stem of the infinitive. The verbseinhas the stemsei-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."becomesEr sagte, er sei da gewesen.

Konjunktiv II

TheKIIor 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 usingwürde(Konjunktiv II form ofwerdenwhich in here is related to the Englishwillorwouldrather than the literalto become;dialect:täte,KII oftun'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 ofhelfen(hülfe) is very unusual. However, using 'würde' instead ofhätte(past subjunctive declension ofhaben'to have') andwäre(past subjunctive declension ofsein'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 inwürderather 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 withfinden(fände) andtun(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 thepreterite(imperfect) declension of the verb with the appropriate present subjunctive declension ending as appropriate. In most cases, anumlautis appended to the stem vowel if possible (i.e. if it isa,o,uorau), for example:ich war → ich wäre, ich brachte → ich brächte.

See also:German grammar

Dutch

Main article:Subjunctive in Dutch

Dutchhas 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 sometimesconditional 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:

• The plural of the subjunctive (both present and past) is always identical to the plural of the indicative. There are a few exceptions where the usage is clearly subjunctive, like:Mogen zij in vrede rusten(May they rest in peace); compare to singular:Moge hij/zij in vrede rusten(May he/she rest in peace).
• In the present tense, the singular form of the subjunctive differs from the indicative, having an extra-e.E.g., the subjunctiveGodzegeneje, mijn kind(May God bless you, my child) differs from the indicativeGodzegentje, mijn kind(God blesses you, my child.)
• In the past tense, the singular form of the subjunctive of weak verbs (the vast majority of verbs) does not differ from the indicative at all, so that for those verbs there is no difference between indicative and subjunctive whatsoever in the past tense. Only for strong verbs, thepreterite-present verbsand some irregular weak verbs does the past subjunctive differ from the past indicative, and only in the singular form. E.g., the subjunctivehadde,wareandmochtediffer from the indicative "had", "was" andmocht( "had", "was" and "could" ).

Archaic and traditional phrases still contain the subjunctive mood:

• Men neme...( "Take..." - literally "one take..." - as found in recipes)
• Uw naam worde geheiligd( "Thy name be hallowed" - from theLord's Prayer)
• Geheiligd zij Uw naam( "Hallowed be thy name" - from the Lord's Prayer, as used in Belgium until 2016)
• Zo waarlijk helpe mij God almachtig( "So truly help me God almighty" - when swearing an oath)
• Godverdomme(now a common Dutch curse; originally a request to God to curse something)
• God zij dank( "Thanks be to God" )
• Dankzij...( "Thanks to..." - literally "Thank be..." )
• Leve de koning( "Long live the king" )

Luxembourgish

Luxembourgishhas the same subjunctive tenses as German (described above). For the periphrasis however,géifis used instead ofwürdeor (dialectal)täte.

Swedish

This section is an excerpt fromSwedish grammar § Subjunctive mood.[edit]

The subjunctive mood is very rarely used in modern Swedish and is limited to a few fixed expressions likeleve kungen,"long live the king". Present subjunctive is formed by adding the-eending to the stem of a verb:

Infinitive	Present tense indicative	Present tense subjunctive
atttala,"to speak"	talar,"speak(s)"	tale,"may speak"
attbli,"to become"	blir,"become(s)"	blive,"may become" (the-v-comes from the older formbliva)
attskriva,"to write"	skriver,"write(s)"	skrive,"may write"
attspringa,"to run"	springer,"run(s)"	springe,"may run"

Infinitive	Past tense indicative	Supine indicative	Past tense subjunctive
attfinnas,"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-)
attbli,"to become"	blev,"became"	blivit,"have/has become"	om det bleve så,"if only it became so" (regular: just appends-eto the past tense)
attskriva,"to write"	skrev,"wrote"	skrivit,"written"	om jag skreve ett brev,"if I should write a letter" (regular: appends-e)

Latin and the Romance languages

Latin

Further information:Latin syntax § The subjunctive mood

The Latin subjunctive has many uses, contingent upon the nature of aclausewithin a sentence:

Withinindependent clauses:

• Exhortation or command
• Concession
• Wish
• Question of doubt
• Possibility or contingency

Withindependent clauses:

• Condition
• Purpose
• Characteristic
• Result
• Time
• Indirect questions

Historically, the Latin subjunctive originates from the ancestraloptative inflections,while some of the original subjunctive forms went on to compose the Latinfuture tense,especially in the Latin third conjugation.The *-i-of the old optative forms manifests itself in the fact that the Latin subjunctives typically have ahigh voweleven when the indicative mood has a lower vowel; for example, Latinrogamus,"we ask", in the indicative mood, corresponds to the subjunctiverogemus,"let us ask", whereeis a higher vowel thana.

Latin present subjunctive forms

Conjugation	1st	2nd	3rd	3rdIO	4th
1st singular	rogem	habeam	curram	excipiam	veniam
2nd singular	roges	habeas	curras	excipias	venias
3rd singular	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 inPortuguese,SpanishandItalian(among otherRomance languages), and for a number of verbs inFrench.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 theoptative 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 formdesiderativeexpressions, such as "Let it snow". The Romance languages use the subjunctive for these; French, for example, says,Qu'il neigeandQu'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 isAllons-y.In addition, the Romance languages tend to use the subjunctive in various kinds of subordinate clauses, such as those introduced by words meaningalthoughEnglish: "Although I am old, I feel young"; French:Bien que je sois vieux, je me sens jeune.

In Spanish, phrases with words likelo que(that which, what),quien(who), ordonde(where) and subjunctive verb forms are often translated to English with some variation of "whatever" or sometimes an indefinite pronoun. Spanishlo que sea,which is, by a literal interpretation, along the lines of "the thing which is", is translated as English "whatever" or "anything"; similarly, Spanishdonde seais English "wherever" and Spanishquien seais English "whoever". For example, Spanishlo que quieras,literally "that which you want", is translated as English "whatever you may want"; Spanishcueste lo que cuesteis translated to English as "whatever it may cost"; and Spanishdonde vayas, voyis translated to English as "wherever you go, I go". The acronym W.E.I.R.D.O, is commonly used by English-speaking students of Spanish to learn the subjunctive. Itusuallystands for Wish Emotion Impersonal Expressions Reccomendations Doubt Ojalá. With the exception ofnegative commands,the subjunctive is always activated in the second clause, when a situation of "W.E.I.R.D.O" is present.

French

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 conjunctionque(that).

Use of the subjunctive is in many respects similar to English:

• Jussive(issuing orders, commanding, or exhorting):Il faut qu’ilcomprennecela( "It is necessary that heunderstandthat ")
• Desiderative:Vive la république!( "Longlivethe republic! ")

Sometimes it is not:

• Desiderative:Que la lumière soit!( "Lettherebelight! ")
• In certain subordinate clauses:
  • Bien que ce soit mon anniversaire:( "Even though itismy birthday ") (although English does introduce a similar subjunctive element in an alternative:" Itmightbe my birthday, but I am working "
  • Avant que je ne m’en aille( "Before Igoaway ")

English	French
It is important that shespeak.(subjunctive)	Il est important qu'elle parle
That the bookpleasesyou 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 thepassé composéin 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 auxiliaryêtreoravoirand 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 thepassé du subjonctifin the subordinate clause:

English	French
It is important that shehave spoken.(subjunctive)	Il est important qu'elle ait parlé.
That the bookpleasedyou 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 theFrench conditional,which is morphologically a future-in-the-past):

English	French
	modern spoken	older, formal, or literary
It was necessary that hespeak	Il était nécessaire qu’il parle	Il était nécessaire qu’il parlât
I feared that heactso.	Je craignais qu'il agisse ainsi	Je craignais qu'il agît ainsi
I would want him todoit.	Je voudrais qu’il le fasse	Je voudrais qu’il le fît
	present subjunctive	imperfect subjunctive

Example quotes

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 youhave spoken	Il était nécessaire que tu aies parlé	Il était nécessaire que tu eusses parlé
I regretted that youhad actedso.	Je regrettais que tu aies agi ainsi	Je regrettais que tu eusses agi ainsi
I would have liked you tohave doneit.	J'aurais aimé que tu l'aies fait	J'aurais aimé que tu l'eusses fait
	past subjunctive	pluperfect subjunctive

Example quotes

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

Italian

TheItalian subjunctive(congiuntivo) is commonly used, although, especially in the spoken language, it is sometimes substituted by the indicative.

The subjunctive is used mainly in subordinate clauses following a set phrase or conjunction, such asbenché,senza che,prima che,orperché.It is also used with verbs of doubt, possibility and expressing an opinion or desire, for example withcredo che,è possibile cheandritengo che,and sometimes with superlatives and virtual superlatives.

• English: I believe (that) sheisthe best.
• Italian:(Io) credo (che) (ella/lei) sia la migliore.

Differently from the French subjunctive, the Italian one is used after expressions likePenso che( "I think that" ), where in French the indicative would be used. However, it is also possible to use the subjunctive after the expressionJe ne pense pas que...( "I don't think that..." ), and in questions likePenses-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 ofandare,which goes tovadaetc. (first person singular form isvado).

The present subjunctive is used in a range of situations in clauses taking the subjunctive.

• English: "It is possible that they have to leave."
• Italian: "È possibile che debbano partire."
• English: "My parents want me to play the piano."
• Italian: "I miei genitori vogliono che io suoni il pianoforte."

The present subjunctive is used mostly in subordinate clauses, as in the examples above. However, exceptions include imperatives using the subjunctive (using the third person), and general statements of desire.

• English: "Be careful!"
• Italian: "Stia attento!"
• English: "Long live the republic!"
• Italian: "Viva la repubblica!"

Imperfect subjunctive

The Italian imperfect subjunctive is very similar in appearance to (but used much more in speech than) the French imperfect subjunctive, and forms are largely regular, apart from the verbsessere, dareandstare(which go tofossi, dessiandstessietc.). 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 asdire(short fordicere) revert to the longer form in the imperfect subjunctive (to givedicessietc., for example).

The imperfect subjunctive is used in subordinate clauses taking the subjunctive where the sense of the verb requires the imperfect.

• English: "It seemed that Elsawas not coming."
• Italian: "Sembrava che Elsa non venisse."
• English: "The teacher slowed down, so that wewould understandeverything. "
• Italian: "L’insegnante rallentava, affinché capissimo tutto."

The imperfect subjunctive is used in "if" clauses, where the main clause is in the conditional tense, as in English and German.

• English: "If Ihada lot of money, I would buy many cars. "
• Italian: "Se avessi molti soldi, comprerei tante automobili."
• English: "You would know if wewere lying."
• Italian: "Sapresti se mentissimo."

Perfect and pluperfect subjunctives

The perfect and pluperfect subjunctives are formed much like the indicative perfect and pluperfect, except the auxiliary (eitheravereoressere) verb takes the present and imperfect subjunctive respectively.

They are used in subordinate clauses which require the subjunctive, where the sense of the verb requires use of the perfect or pluperfect.

• English: "Although theyhadnotkilledthe doctor, the police arrested the men. "
• Italian: "Benché non avessero ucciso il medico, la polizia arrestò gli uomini."
• English: "I would have done it, provided youhad helpedme. "
• Italian: "Lo avrei fatto, purché tu mi avessi assistito."

Spanish

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:

• que...orde que...as inque sea(present subjunctive)lo que Dios quiera(present subjunctive): "Let it be what God wills".
• Si...:"If.." (e.g.si estuvieras:"if you were..." )
• Donde:"Where.." (e.g.donde sea,"anywhere" )
• Cuando:"When.." (referring to a future time, e.g.cuando vaya,"when I go" )
• Aunque:"Despite/although/even if..."
• Ojalá..."I hope..." (derived from Arabicإن شاء ألله,in šāʾ ʾallāh,'God willing') e.g.Ojalá que llueva(present subjunctive) "I hope it rains" orOjalá que lloviera(past subjunctive) "I wish it would rain".

Nevertheless, the subjunctive can stand alone to supplant other tenses.

For example, "I would like" can be said in the conditionalQuerríaor in the past subjunctiveQuisiera,as inQuisiera(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" ):

• Sea lo que sea(present subjunctive + present subjunctive): "No matter what/whatever."
• Sea lo que fuera(present subjunctive + past subjunctive): "Whatever it were."
• Fuera lo que fuera(past subjunctive + past subjunctive): (Similar meaning to above).
• Sea lo que fuere.(Present subjunctive + future subjunctive): "Whatever it may be."
• Fuera lo que hubiera sido.(Past subjunctive + past pluperfect subjunctive): "Whatever/no matter what it may have been".

The same alterations could be made to the expressionSea como seaor "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 Frenchqu'ils parlentcan be either indicative or subjunctive, Spanishque hablenis unambiguously subjunctive. (The corresponding indicative would beque hablan.) The same is true for all verbs, regardless of their subject.

When to use:

• When there are two clauses, separated byque.However, not allqueclauses require the subjunctive mood. They must have at least one of the following criteria:
• As the fourth edition ofMosaicosstates, when the verb of the main clause expresses emotion (e.g. fear, happiness, sorrow, etc.)
• Impersonal expressions are used in the main clause. (It is important that...)
• The verb in the second clause is the one that is in subjunctive.

Examples:

• Ojalá que me compren (comprar) un regalo.(I hope that they will buy me a gift.)
• Te recomiendo que no corras (correr) con tijeras.(I recommend that you not run with scissors.)
• Dudo que el restaurante abra (abrir) a las seis.(I doubt that the restaurant might open at six.)
• Lo discutiremos cuando venga (venir).(We will talk about it when he/she comes.)
• Es importante que (nosotros) hagamos ejercicio.(It is important that we exercise.)
• Me alegro de que (tú) seas mi amiga.(I am happy that you are my friend.)

Past (imperfect) subjunctive

Used interchangeably, the past (imperfect) subjunctive can end either in-seor-ra.Both forms stem from the third-person plural (ellos, ellas, ustedes) of the preterite. For example, the verbestar,when conjugated in the third-person plural of the preterite, becomesestuvieron.Then, drop the-ronending, and add either-seor-ra.Thus, it becomesestuvieseorestuviera.The past subjunctive may be used with "if... then" statements with the conditional mood. Example:

• Si yo fuera/fuese el maestro, no mandaría demasiados deberes.(If Iwerethe teacher, I would not give too much homework.)

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,archaicphrases and expressions, and legal documents. (The form is similar to the-raform of the imperfect subjunctive, but with a-reending instead of-ra,-resinstead of-rasand so on.) Example:

• Si así yo no lo hiciere, que Dios y la patria me lo demanden.(If I don't do it, may God and the fatherland demand it from me.)

Phrases expressing the subjunctive in a future period normally employ the present subjunctive. For example: "I hope that itwill raintomorrow "would simply beEspero que llueva mañana(wherelluevais the third-person singular present subjunctive ofllover,"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 ofhaberis conjugated (in the example above,haberbecomeshubieras). Then the participle of the main verb (in this case is added,irbecomesido).

• Me gustaría que 'hubieras ido'/'hubieses ido', pero él suspendió su examen de matemáticas.(I would have liked if youhad gone,but he failed his math test.)

Though the-reform appears to be more closely related to the imperfect subjunctive-raform than the-seform, that is not the case. The-seform of the imperfect subjunctive derives from the pluperfect subjunctive of Vulgar Latin and the-rafrom the pluperfect indicative, combining to overtake the previous pluperfect subjunctive ending. The-reform 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-raand-seforms always had a past (to be specific, pluperfect) meaning, but only the-seform always belonged with the subjunctive mood that the-reform had since its emergence.

Portuguese

In Portuguese, as in Spanish, the subjunctive (subjuntivoorconjuntivo) 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

• Command:Faça-se luz!"Let there be light!"
• Wish:Viva o rei!"Long live the king!"
• Necessity:É importante que ele compreenda isso."It is important that heunderstandthat. "
• In certain, subordinate clauses:
  • Ainda que seja o meu aniversário..."Even thoughit bemy birthday... "
  • Antes que eu vá..."BeforeI go... "

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 clauseagreewith the tense of the main clause:

• English:It is[present indicative] necessary thathe speak[present subjunctive]. →It was[past indicative] necessary thathe speak[present subjunctive].
• Portuguese:É[present indicative]necessário que ele fale[present subjunctive]. →Era necessário[past (imperfect) indicative]que ele falasse[past (imperfect) subjunctive].

The imperfect subjunctive is also used when the main clause is in theconditional:

• English: Itwould be[conditional] necessary thathe speak[present subjunctive].
• Portuguese:Seria[conditional]necessário que ele falasse[imperfect subjunctive].

There are authorswho regard the conditional of Portuguese as a "future in the past" of the indicative mood, rather than as a separate mood; they call itfuturo 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 otherWest Ibericlanguages. 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, inconditional sentenceswhose 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.

• English: IfI were[past subjunctive] king, I would end [conditional] hunger.
  • Spanish:Si fuera[imperfect subjunctive]rey, acabaría con[conditional]el hambre.
  • Portuguese:Se fosse[imperfect subjunctive]rei, acabaria com[conditional]a fome.
• English: IfI am[present indicative] [technical English is "should Ibe"present subjunctive] elected president, I will change [future indicative] the law.
  • Spanish:Si soy[present indicative]elegido presidente, cambiaré[future indicative]la ley.
  • Portuguese:Se for[future subjunctive]eleito presidente, mudarei[future indicative]a lei.

The first situation iscounterfactual;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:

• English: Whenyou are[present indicative] older, you will understand [future indicative].
• Spanish:Cuando seas[present subjunctive]mayor, comprenderás[future indicative].
• French:Quand tu seras[future indicative]grand, tu comprendras[future indicative].
• Italian:Quando sarai[future indicative]grande, comprenderai[future indicative].
• Portuguese:Quando fores[future subjunctive]mais velho, compreenderás[future indicative].

The future subjunctive is identical in form to the personal infinitive in regular verbs, but they differ in some irregular verbs of frequent use. However, the possible differences between the two tenses are due only to stem changes. They always have the same endings.

The meaning of sentences can change by switching subjunctive and indicative:

• Ele pensou que eu fosse alto(He thought that I was tall [and I am not])
• Ele pensou que eu era alto(He thought that I was tall [and I am or I am not sure whether I am or not])
• Se formos lá(If we go there)
• Se vamos lá(equivalent to "if we are going there" )

Below, there is a table demonstrating subjunctive and conditional conjugation for regular verbs of the first paradigm (-ar), exemplified byfalar(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 (terorhaver) must conjugate to the respective subjunctive tense, while the main verbs must take their participles.

• Queria quehouvesses sido eleitopresidente (I wish youhad been electedpresident)
• É importante quehajas compreendidoisso. (It is important that youhave comprehendedthat)
• Quandohouver sido eleitopresidente, mudarei a lei (When Iwill have been electedpresident, I will change the law)
• A cidadehaver-se-ia afundadose não fosse por seus alicerces (The citywould have sunk,if not for its foundation)

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

Romanian

Main article:Romanian verbs

Romanian is part of theBalkan Sprachbundand as such uses the subjunctive (conjunctiv) more extensively than other Romance languages. The subjunctive forms always include theconjunctionsă,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 conjunctionsăbefore the present indicative (indicative:amI have; conjunctive:să am(that) I have; indicative:viiyou 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:arehe has; conjunctive:să aibă(that) he has; indicative:authey have; conjunctive:să aibă(that) they have; indicative:vinehe comes; conjunctive:să vină(that) he comes; indicative:vinthey 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 vreato want,a dorito wish,a preferato prefer,a lăsato let, to allow,a rugato ask,a sfătuito advise,a sugerato suggest,a recomandato recommend,a cereto demand, to ask for,a interziceto forbid,a permiteto allow, to give permission,a se temeto be afraid, etc.

When used independently, the subjunctive indicates a desire, a fear, an order or a request, i.e. hasmodalandimperativevalues. The present subjunctive is used in questions having the modal value ofshould:

• Să plec?Should I leave?
• Să mai stau?Should I stay longer?
• De ce să plece?Why should he/she leave?

The present subjunctive is often used as an imperative, mainly for other persons than the second person. When used with the second person, it is even stronger than the imperative. The first-person plural can be preceded by the interjectionhai,which intensifies the imperative meaning of the structure:

• Să mergem!Let us go! orHai să mergem!Come on, let's go!
• Să plece imediat!I want him to leave immediately!
• Să-mi aduci un pahar de apă!Bring me a glass of water!

The subjunctive present is used in certain set phrases used as greetings in specific situations:

• Să creşti mare!(to a child, after he or she declared his or her age or thanked for something)
• Să ne (să-ţi, să vă) fie de bine!(to people who have finished their meals)
• Să-l (să o, să le etc.) porţi sănătos / sănătoasă!(when somebody shows up in new clothes, with new shoes)
• Dumnezeu să-l (s-o, să-i, să le) ierte!(after mentioning the name of a person who died recently)

Past subjunctive

The past tense of the subjunctive mood has one form for all persons and numbers of all the verbs, which issă fifollowed by thepast participleof the verb. The past subjunctive is used after the past optative-conditional of the verbs that require the subjunctive (a trebui, a vrea, a putea, a fi bine, a fi necesar,etc.), in constructions that express the necessity, the desire in the past:

• Ar fi trebuit să fi rămas acasă.You should have stayed home.
• Ar fi fost mai bine să mai fi stat.It would have been better if we had stayed longer.

When used independently, the past subjunctive indicates a regret related to a past-accomplished action that is seen as undesirable at the moment of speaking:

• Să fi rămas acasăWe should have stayed at home. (Note: the same construction can be used for all persons and numbers.)

Celtic languages

Welsh

See also:Literary Welsh morphologyandColloquial Welsh morphology

InWelsh,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 verbbod( "to be" ). It is used afterpe(a form of "if" ) and it must be accompanied by the conditional subjunctive e.g.Pebawni'n gyfoethog, teithiwn i trwy'r byd.= "If Iwererich, 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.

Scottish Gaelic

InScottish 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,

• Gum biRìgh Ruisiart beò fada!– Long live King Richard (lit. May King Richard live long).
• Gum bibeanachd Dè oirbh uile!– May God bless you all!
• Gun gabhe a fhois ann sìth– May he rest in peace.

Or when used as the conjunction, the subjunctive is used, like every other language, in a more demanding or wishful statement:

• Se àmgum fàge a-nis.– It is time that he leave now.
• Tha e riatanachgun tèidiad gu sgoil gach là.– It is necessary that they go to school every day.
• Dh'fhaighnich enach faicmi ise.– He asked that I not see her.

The subjunctive in Gaelic will sometimes have the conjunctiongun(orgumbefore verbs beginning with labial consonants:p,b,morf) can be translated as 'that' or as 'May...' while making a wish. For negatives,nachis 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 verbbi'be' isrobh,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:

• Nan robhmi beairteach, shiubhlainn air feadh an t-saoghail.- If I were rich, I would travel all over the world.
• Mura dèanainnm' obair-dhachaigh, bhithinn ann an trioblaid.- If I had not done my homework, I would have been in trouble.

Or:Mura robhmi air m' obair-dhachaigh a dhèanamh, bhithinn (air a bhith) ann an trioblaid.

Irish

In theIrish 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.

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":

• Go dté tú slán. – May you be well. (lit: may you go well)

Or again, the subjunctive of "tabhair" (give) is "tuga":

• Go dtuga Dia ciall duit. – May God give you sense.

Or to take a third example, sometimes the wish is also a curse, like this one from Tory Island in Donegal:

• Go ndéana an Diabhal toirneach de d'anam in Ifreann. – May the Devil make thunder of your soul in Hell.

The subjunctive is generally formed by taking the 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 ofbog(to move)is added-agiving as its subjunctive in the first personboga 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 verbbí(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

• Althoughfeoighdoesn't have asíneadh fada(accent), the 'o' in this position is stressed (pronounced as though it isó) and thus the subjunctive is irregular.

Where the subjunctive is used in English, it may not be used in Irish and another tense might be used instead. For example:

• If Iwere(past subjunctive) you, I would study for the exam tomorrow. – Dámba(past/conditional of thecopula) mise tusa, dhéanfainn (conditional) staidéar le haghaidh an scrúdaithe amárach.
• I wish *(that) youwere(past sub.) here. – Is mian liom goraibh(present sub.) tú anseo.
• It is important that hechoose(present sub.) the right way—Tá sé tábhachtach goroghnóidh(future indicative) sé ar an mbealach ceart.
  • • Whenyou're older(present ind.), you'll understand – Nuair abheidh/bheas(future ind.) tú níos sine, tuigfidh tú.
  • Note that in English, the relative pronounthatcan be omitted; in Irish, the correspondinggomust be retained.
    • Note that in English, the present tense is often used to refer to a future state whereas in Irish there is less freedom with tenses (i.e. time is more strictly bound to the appropriate tense, present for present, past for past, future for future). In this particular example,you will be olderand it is then thatyou will understand.

Indo-Aryan languages

Hindi-Urdu

There are two subjunctive moods inHindi-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 withif clausesandrelative 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.

The regular subjunctive mood can be put in two tenses; present and future.There is another mood, called thecontrafactual mood,which serves as both the past subjunctive and the past conditional mood in Hindustani.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 verbhonā(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 verbshonā(to be) andkarnā(to do) are shown in the table below.

Subjunctive and Contrafactual Conjugations ofhonā(to be)

mood		tense	singular						plural
			1Pma͠i		2Ptum		3Pyah/ye, vah/vo		1Pham
									2Pāp
							2Ptū		3Pye, ve/vo
			♂	♀	♂	♀	♂	♀	♂	♀
subjunctive	regular	present	hū̃		ho		ho		hõ
		future	hoū̃		hoo		hoe		hoẽ
	perfective		huā	huī	hue	huī	huā	huī	hue	huī̃
contrafactual		past	hotā	hotī	hote	hotī	hotā	hotī	hote	hotī̃

Subjunctive and Contrafactual Aspectual Forms ofkarnā(to do)

mood		tense	singular						plural
			1Pma͠i		2Ptum		3Pyah/ye, vah/vo		1Pham
									2Pāp
							2Ptū		3Pye, ve/vo
			♂	♀	♂	♀	♂	♀	♂	♀
HABITUAL ASPECT
subjunctive	regular	present	kartā hū̃	kartī hū̃	karte ho	kartī ho	kartā ho	kartī ho	kartā hõ	kartī hõ
		future	kartā rahū̃	kartī rahū̃	karte raho	kartī raho	kartā rahe	kartī rahe	karte rahẽ	kartī rahẽ
	perfective		kartā rahā	kartī rahī	karte rahe	kartī rahī	kartā rahā	kartī rahī	karte rahe	kartī rahī̃
contrafactual		past	kartā hotā	kartī hotī	karte hote	kartī hotī	kartā hotā	kartī hotī	karte hote	kartī hotī̃
PERFECTIVE ASPECT
subjunctive	regular	present	kiyā hū̃	kī hū̃	kiye ho	kī ho	kiyā ho	kī ho	kiye hõ	kī hõ
		future	kiyā hoū̃	kī hoū̃	kiye hoo	kī hoo	kiyā hoe	kī hoe	kiye hoẽ	kī hoẽ
	perfective		kiyā rahā	kī rahī	kiye rahe	kī rahī	kiyā rahā	kī rahī	kiye rahe	kī rahī̃
contrafactual		past	kiyā hotā	kī hotī	kiye hote	kī hotī	kiyā hotā	kī hotī	kiye hote	kī hotī̃
PROGRESSIVE ASPECT
subjunctive	regular	present	kar rahā hū̃	kar rahī hū̃	kar rahe ho	kar rahī ho	kar rahā ho	kar rahī ho	kar rahe hõ	kar rahī hõ
		future	kar rahā hoū̃	kar rahī hoū̃	kar rahe hoo	kar rahī hoo	kar rahā hoe	kar rahī hoe	kar rahe hoẽ	kar rahī hoẽ
	perfective		kar rahā huā	kar rahī huī	kar rahe hue	kar rahī huī	kar rahā hua	kar rahī huī	kar rahe hue	kar rahī huī̃
contrafactual		past	kar rahā hotā	kar rahī hotī	kar rahe hote	kar rahī hotī	kar rahā hotā	kar rahī hotī	kar rahe hote	kar rahī hotī̃

Subjunctive and Contrafactual Conjugations ofkarnā(to do)

mood		tense	singular						plural
			1Pma͠i		2Ptum		3Pyah/ye, vah/vo		1Pham
									2Pāp
							2Ptū		3Pye, ve/vo
			♂	♀	♂	♀	♂	♀	♂	♀
subjunctive	regular	future	karū̃		karo		kare		karẽ
	perfective		kiyā	kī	kiye	kī	kiyā	kī	kiye	kī̃
contrafactual		past	kartā	kartī	karte	kartī	kartā	kartī	karte	kartī̃

			example sentence
Subjunctive	Regular	Present	uskī his/her.GEN tabiyat health.NOM sahī correct.ADJ ho be.SBJV.PRS bas. only uskī tabiyat sahīhobas. his/her.GEN health.NOM correct.ADJ be.SBJV.PRS only (I only hope that) his/her healthisin good condition.
		Future	ummīd hope kar do rahī stay.PTCP hū̃ be.1P.SG. ki that bole tell.SBJV.FUT. vo he/she.NOM kuch something use. him/her.DAT ummīd kar rahī hū̃ kibolevo kuch use. hope do stay.PTCP be.1P.SG. that tell.SBJV.FUT. he/she.NOM something him/her.DAT I am hoping he/shetellssomething to him/her.
	Perfective	Future	ma͠i I.NOM usse him/her.INST pūchū̃ ask.1P.SBJV.SG aur and usne he/she.ERG nahī̃ not batāyā tell.SBJV.PFV.FUT to? then ma͠i usse pūchū̃ aur usne nahī̃batāyāto? I.NOM him/her.INST ask.1P.SBJV.SG and he/she.ERG not tell.SBJV.PFV.FUT then (In the case that) I ask him and he doesn'ttell(me) then?
Contrafactual		Past	kāsh I wish usne he/she.ERG usī that.DEM.EMPH din day.NOM ye this.DEM bāt matter.NOM.FEM batā tell.CONTRA.FEM dī hotī. kāsh usne usī din ye bāt batādīhotī. {I wish} he/she.ERG that.DEM.EMPH day.NOM this.DEM matter.NOM.FEM tell.CONTRA.FEM I wish he/shehad toldme about this thing on that day itself.

Slavic languages

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,although there is no consistent terminology. For example, some authors do not distinguish the subjunctive mood from the optative ( "wishing" ) mood, others do.

Polish

The subjunctive mood is formed using thebyparticle, either alone or forming a single word with the complex conjunctionsżeby,iżby,ażeby,aby,coby.The mood does not have its own morphology, but instead a rule that theby-containing particle must be placed in front of the dependent clause.Compare:

• Upieram się, że wychodziindicative - I insist that he is leaving;
• Upieram się, (że)by wyszedłsubjunctive - I insist that he leave;
• Upieram się, że wyszedłbyconditional - I insist that he would leave.

The subjunctive mood in the dependent clause is obligatory in the case of certain independent clauses, for example it is incorrect to saychcę, że to zrobi,but the subjunctive mood must be used instead:chcę, by to zrobił.

The subjunctive can never be mistaken with the conditional,despite that in the case of the conditional mood the cliticbyand derivatives can move. See that in the following examples:

• Upieram się, że wtedy by nie wyszedłconditional - I insist that he would not have left then [at that time];
• Upieram się, że by wówczas nie wyszedłconditional - I insist that he would not have left then/[at that time]/[in that case];
• Myślę, że on by akurat wyszedłconditional - I think that he would have just left [a moment ago];
• Myślę, że gdyby wyszedł,...conditional - I think, that if he would have left,...

There is no conjunction, which would indicate the subjunctive. In particular, there is nożeby.

Compare to the closely relatedoptative mood,e.g. the subjunctivenie nalegam, by wysłał listvs the optativeoby wysłał list.

Bulgarian

Modal distinctions in subordinate clauses are expressed not through verb endings, but through the choice ofcomplementizer-че (che)orда (da)(which might both be translated with therelative pronoun"that" ). The verbs remain unchanged. In ordinary sentences, the imperfectiveaspectis most often used for the indicative, and the perfective for the subjunctive, but any combination is possible, with the corresponding change in meaning.

• e.g. iskam da stanesh (perfective) / iskam da stavash (imperfective) - i want you to get up.

The latter is more insisting, since the imperfective is the more immediate construction. Thus:

• Indicative-че-
  • e.g.знам, че си тук - znam,chesi tuk- I know that you are here;
• Subjunctive -да-
  • e.g.настоявам да си тук - nastoyavamdasi tuk- I insist that you be here.

Semitic languages

Arabic

InClassical Arabic,the verb in itsimperfectaspect (al-muḍāri‘) has a subjunctive form called themanṣūbform (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.)

• Indicative third singular masc.yaktubu"he writes / is writing / will write" → Subjunctiveyaktuba"he may / should write"
• Indicative third plural masc.yaktubūna"they write" → Subjunctiveyaktubū"they may write"
• Indicative third plural fem.yaktubna"they write" = Subjunctiveyaktubna"they may write"

The subjunctive is used inthat-clauses, after Arabican: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.

InLevantine Arabic,the indicative hasb-while the subjunctive lacks it:

• third sing. masc.huwwe byuktob"he writes / is writing / will write", versusyuktob"he may / should write"
• third plural masc.homme byukotbu,versusyukotbu

Egyptian Arabicuses a simple construction that precedes the conjugated verbs with (law"if" ) or (momken"may" ); the following are some examples:

• (Law/Momken enti tektebi. "If /Maybe you write" ) (s.f)
• (Law/Momken enti katabti. "If /Maybe you wrote" ) (s.f)
• (Law/Momken enti konti tektebi. "If /Maybe you would write" ) (s.f)
• (Law/Momken enti ḥatektebi. "If /Maybe you will write" ) (s.f)

Tunisian Arabicoften precedes the imperfective indicative verb by various conjunctions to create the subjunctive:

Ma:

• Mē ʕandakmatekteb. You have nothingtowrite

Literally: not at.yousubj_toolyou_write

Kenfor wish, hope or opinion:

• Netmanna,kennʃūfak nējeħ nhār. I wish i'd see you successful one day:Wish
• Kenyeʃlēqu. (I) hope they find out:Hope
• (Men rayi,)Kentemʃi tertēħ. (In my opinion,) It's better [for your health] to relax:Opinion

Tawfor a highly-expected possibility:

• Abqa hne,tawtoxles. Stay here (and) you will/could get paid

Rafor inevitability but it's, in most cases, accompanied with "ken" in the other clause:

• Ken tkūn ðˤʕīf,rakbēʃ tetʕeb fe ħyētak. Once you get weak, you'll suffer in life

Hebrew

Final short vowels were elided inHebrewin 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 asyaqūm"he rises / will rise" versusyaqom"may he rise" andyihye"he will be" versusyehi"may he be", imperfect forms of thehiphilstem, 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 likeyaqomandyehibecoming non-productive; instead, the future tense (prefix conjugation) is used for the subjunctive, often with the particleshe-added to introduce the clause, if it is not already present (similar to Frenchque).

• "שיבוא‎ "(Sheyavo) – "Let himcome"or" May hecome"(literally," That (he)will come")
• "אני רוצה שיבוא‎ "(Ani rotzeh sheyavo) – "I want himto come"(literally," I want that (he)will come")

Biblical subjunctive forms survive in non-productive phrases in such forms as the third-person singular ofto be(להיות‎ –lihyot,יהי/תהי‎ orיהא/תהא‎) andto live(לחיות‎ –likhyot,יחי/תחי‎), mostly in a literaryregister:

• "יחיהמלך‎ "(Y'khi ha-melekh) – "Longlivethe king "(literally,"Livethe-king ")
• "לויהי‎ "(Lu Y'hi) – "Let it be" (literally, "if itbe") (a popular song in Hebrew, byNaomi Shemer)

Akkadian

Subordinate clauses inBabylonianand Standard BabylonianAkkadianare marked with a-uon verbs ending in a consonant, and with nothing after vocalic endings or afterventiveendings. 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.AssyrianAkkadian 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.

Uralic languages

Hungarian

This mood in Hungarian is generally used to express polite demands and suggestions. The endings are identical between imperative, conjunctive and subjunctive; it is therefore often called the conjunctive-imperative mood.

Examples:

• Add nekem!– 'Give it to me.' – demand
• Menjünk!– 'Let's go.' – suggestion
• Menjek?– 'Shall I go?' – suggestion or question
• Menj!– 'Go!' – demand

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 (-jand not-jélfor example inmenjabove, 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 inaddabove (instead ofadjad).

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 articleHungarian verbs. As usual, gemination of a final sibilant consonant is demonstrated when aj-initial ending is applied:

mos+ -jakgivesmossak'let me wash' (-j-changes to-s-)

When referring to the demands of others, the subjunctive is demonstrated:

kérte, hogymenjek.'He asked that I go. (He asked me to go.)' Here, "I go" is in the subjunctive.

Turkic languages

Turkish

There is no one-to-one relationship between the subjunctive mode in other languages and the modes in Turkish. The subjunctive mode of other languages can be compared with theimperative mood (emir kipi),thenecessitative mood (gereklilik kipi),theoptative mood (istek kipi),desiderative mood (dilek kipi),conditional mood (şart kipi)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).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:

1. The suffix -(y)eyim/ -(y)ayım. The suffix -(y)eyim or -(y)ayım is used for the singular form of the first person according to the last vowel of the verb and it means 'let me do'. Use the suffix -(y)ayım: if the last vowel of the word isa, ı, o, or u.Use the suffix -(y)eyim: if the last vowel of the word ise, i, ö, or ü.If the verb root ends in a vowel the letter 'y' is added after the verb root: ağlamak (to cry) -> ağlayayım(let me cry); uyumak (to sleep) -> uyuyayım(let me sleep).
2. The suffix -(y)elim/ -(y)alım. The suffix -(y)elim or -(y)alım is used for the plural form of the first person according to the last vowel of the verb and it means 'let us do'. Use the suffix -(y)alım: if the last vowel of the word isa, ı, o, or u.Use the suffix -(y)elim: if the last vowel of the word ise, i, ö, or ü.Bugün araba sürelim.(Let's drive a car today.) Bu akşam için kek yapalım.(Let's make a cake for tonight.)

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)).

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)).

An example of an imperative mode (emir kipi) is: siz gelin (Let you come), onlar gelsinler (Let them come).

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).;Keşke arabam olsa da otobüse binmesem (I wish I had a car, so I don't (need to) get on the bus.); Keşke arabam olsaydıda 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).

External links

• Subjunctive in Bulgarian - On the Intersection between the Old Church Slavonic Subjunctive and Modern Bulgarian Renarrative forms
• The English subjunctive: scholarly opinions
• The Bulgarian Subjunctive Mood from a Historical Point of View- a lecture in Russian by assoc. prof. Ivan Iliev