Subjunctive mood
The subjunctive mood (sometimes referred to as the conjunctive mood) is a grammatical mood of the verb that is subjective, from the person's viewpoint, that expresses wishes, commands (in subordinate clauses), emotion, possibility, judgement, necessity and statements that are contrary to fact.
The subjunctive mood in English
The English present subjunctive is the plain (uninflected) form of the verb, the same form as the bare infinitive and the imperative. For example, the present subjunctive form of the verb to think is simply think. In some (comparatively recent) texts that use the archaic pronoun thou, a final -est or -st is sometimes added; for example, "thou beest" appears frequently in the work of Shakespeare and some of his contemporaries.
The subjunctive is most distinctive in the verb to be. Here, there is not only a present subjunctive — be — but also a past subjunctive, were. Since other English verbs have a single universal past form (I sat, s/he sat, we sat, ye sat, they sat), they do not need to single one form out as a separate past subjunctive (the way 'to be' singles out 'were' among all its forms). Historically, the only place where the past subjunctive was distinguished from the past indicative, in Early Modern English, is in the second person singular. Hence, indicative thou sattest, but subjunctive thou sat. This usage was eroding even then, however.
The subjunctive mood is used in English in a number of different ways.
Stock phrases and clichés
W. Somerset Maugham said that "The subjunctive mood is in its death throes, and the best thing to do is to put it out of its misery as soon as possible". An alternative view is that the subjunctive mood remains an ordinary working feature of English grammar, but that it is called moribund because it is often indistinguishable from the ordinary present indicative.
The subjunctive mood is used in a number of fossil phrases that are perhaps no longer felt as inflecting the verb in a particular way. One common past-subjunctive expression is as it were; common present-subjunctive expressions include:
- be that as it may
- (God) bless you!
- come what may
- (God) damn it!
- Far be it from me
- till death do us part
- God save our gracious Queen; long live our noble Queen.
- Heaven forfend/forbid
- so be it
- suffice it to say
- woe betide
Many of these are now often analyzed as imperative forms rather than as the subjunctive ones they are.
Jussive subjunctive
The subjunctive regularly appears in subordinate clauses, almost always a that clause, after verbs of commanding or requesting:
- I move that the bill be put to a vote.
- I demand that Napoleon surrender!
- It is necessary that classes be cancelled.
This use of the subjunctive remains lively in all varieties of English, so that a sentence like *I demand that Napoleon surrenders would be perceived by many as a solecism. However, British English prefers to structure this sentence with should: I demand that Napoleon should surrender.
Hypothetical subjunctive
This usage of the subjunctive is called for whenever the situation described by the verb is "hypothetical", whether wished for, feared, or suggested; the common thread is that the situation is not the current state of affairs.
Thus the song from Fiddler on the Roof celebrates the word If in an extended hypothetical, marked by subjunctive mood, for example:
- "If I were a rich man, ... There would be one long staircase just going up, and one even longer coming down." — Tevye the milkman
Some linguists call this use of the subjunctive the irrealis. This is the sense in which some claim that the subjunctive in English is moribund. This subjunctive can occur with or without a word like if or whether that specifically marks a phrase as hypothetical. When if is omitted, an inverted syntax is usually used:
- Were I the President ...
- If I were the King of the world...
- Be he alive or be he dead ...
- If I were the President ...
In most varieties of English, this subjunctive can be replaced by an indicative when the if form is used:
- If I was the President ...
- If he was a ghost...
Such usage is commonplace, but is sometimes considered erroneous in formal or educated speech and writing.
The unmarked, inverted syntax form — *Was I the President ... — does not occur. However, inverted syntax in itself can be the sign of a subjunctive with a few common verbs other than to be:
- Had we but world enough, and time ...
- Come tomorrow, I will be on that plane.
The unmarked subjunctive began to appear in the sixteenth century; since that time, it has expanded to being at least as common as the marked forms. Some use the marked form even in the absence of a hypothetical situation — "Johnny asked me if I were afraid" (Barbara in Night of the Living Dead (1968)) — simply as a conditioned variant that follows if and similar words. This is commonly considered a hypercorrection. (In the example quoted, if is a substitute for the unambiguous word whether ("Johnny asked me whether I was afraid"), and lacks the usual, "in the event that" meaning that if has in other usage (e.g., "If we go to bed now, we'll be up at three o'clock").)
Another use of the hypothetical subjunctive occurs with the verb "wish":
- I wish I were an Oscar Mayer wiener.
This, too, is often replaced with the unmarked form.
This subjunctive is not uniform in all varieties of spoken English. It is preserved in speech, at least, in north central North American English, and in some dialects of British English. While it is no longer mandatory, except perhaps in the most formal literary discourse, the reports of its demise have been exaggerated. Notably, the divergence of usage in Britain and American can result in the same utterance having significantly different meanings in the two dialects. For example, the sentence "They insisted he went to chapel every day," in British English, usually means that he was required to go to chapel daily, but in American it means that the "they" of the sentence are asserting that he went daily, perhaps in refutation of a statement to the contrary. To mean he was obliged to attend chapel, an American would say "They insisted he go to chapel every day."
The subjunctive is very rare in received standard British English, and only used in some set phrases and in conditional clauses expressing impossibility. Otherwise, it is replaced by should + bare infinitive.
Thus, in British English:
- I wish I were you. (it is impossible for me to be you)
- I wish I were there. (it is impossible for me to be there, for I am elsewhere during the moment in question)
- If only he were prescient. (it is impossible for him to be prescient)
- I eat lest I should die. (American English: I eat lest I die.) See final clauses.
- They insisted that there should be a proper catering service involved. (American English: They insisted that a proper catering service be involved. or ...that there be...)
In British English, it is considered incorrect to use a negative subjunctive. The sentence He took heed that his boss not see him., while correct in American English, is incorrect in British, where it should be rendered thus: He took heed that his boss might not see him. (or lest his boss should see him). The following construction is common in American English, and is readily understood:
- I wouldn't do that if I were you.
The subjunctive mood in Romance languages
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, 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 a imperative forms: "Let's go" in French is "Allons-y.") Also, 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'm old, I feel young"; French: Bien que je sois vieux, je me sens jeune.)
French
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 je sais, "I know", with the subjunctive que je sache. (However, regular verbs have subjunctives homonymous with the indicative in most of the persons: j'aime → que j'aime).
Use of the subjunctive is in many respects similar to English:
- Jussive: Il faut qu'il comprenne ça.: "It is necessary that he understand this."
- Desiderative: Vive la reine!: "Long live the queen!"
But sometimes not:
- Desiderative: Que la lumière soit !: "Let there be light!"
- In certain subordinate clauses:
- Bien que ce soit mon anniversaire... "Even though it is my birthday..."
- Avant que je ne m'en aille... "Before I go..."
For more on the subjunctive in French, see French verbs.
Modern French scarcely ever uses the imperfect subjunctive, but - like English - Portuguese and Spanish do, for example in hypotheticals after se and si ("if"), respectively. (French would use the imperfect in this case.) In such a case, the main clause is in the conditional mood.
- English: If I were (past subjunctive) the king, I would change the law.
- French: Si j'etais (imperfect indicative) le roi, je changerais la loi.
- Portuguese: Se eu fosse (imperfect subjunctive) o rei, mudaria a lei.
- Spanish: Si yo fuese (imperfect subjunctive) el rey, cambiaría la ley.
However it is possible in French to use an imperfect or pluperfect "subjunctive" in hypotheticals, but these tenses are never reffered to as being a subjunctive, they are called the second form of the conditional. When one uses the second form of the present conditional (conditionel présent deuxième forme), "si" must be dropped and inversion must be used:
- Fussé-je devant le roi, je changerais/changeasse la loi.
The second form of the present conditional is not used a lot in French, only the form fût-ce (="would it be" (conditional), not "were it" (subjunctive)) is used very often. When one uses the second form of the past conditionel (conditionel passé deuxième forme), "si" can be dropped, but it is not obliged. The third person singular of the the second form of the past conditional is still used frequently in modern French.
- Eussé-je été le roi, j'aurais/eusse changé la loi.
- Si j'eusse été le roi, j'aurais/eusse changé la loi.
These also use the past subjunctive in parallel with its jussive use in the present tense:
- English: It is necessary that he speak (present subjunctive). → It was necessary that he speak (present subjunctive).
- French: Il est nécessaire qu'il parle (present subjunctive). → Il était nécessaire qu'il parle (present subjunctive) or qu'il parlât (imperfect subjunctive).
- Portuguese: É necessário que fale (present subjunctive). → Era necessário que falasse (imperfect subjunctive).
- Spanish: Es necesario que hable (present subjunctive). → Era necesario que hablara (imperfect subjunctive).
Portuguese
In Portuguese, the subjunctive (subjuntivo) is used in conjunction with expressions of emotion, opinion, or viewpoint. It also is used to described situations that are considered unlikely or are in doubt, as well as for expressing disagreement, denial, or wishes, similarly to Spanish.
In Portuguese, the use of the subjunctive is similar to English:
- Jussive: É importante que ele comprenda isso.: "It is important that he understand this."
- Desiderative: Viva o rei!: "Long live the king!"
It also bears similarities to the use in French:
- Desiderative: Faça-se a luz! "Let there be light!"
- In certain subordinate clauses:
- Ainda que seja meu aniversário... "Even though it is my birthday..."
- Antes que (eu) vá... "Before (I) go..."
Portuguese differs from other Romance languages in its conservation of a future subjunctive (futuro do subjuntivo), which was once widespread in Spanish, but however now is only used in extremely formal government documents. This is used to express a condition that is likely to be fulfilled or will be. This form is identical to the personal infinitive, with the exception of the following verbs:
| Verb | Meaning | Personal Infinitive stem | Future Subjunctive stem |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ser | to be | ser- | for- |
| Estar | to be | estar- | estiver- |
| Haver | "to there be", to have | haver- | houver- |
| Ter | to have | ter- | tiver- |
| Poder | to be able | poder- | puder- |
| Dar | to give | dar- | der- |
| Fazer | to do, to make | fazer- | fizer- |
| Caber | to fit | caber- | couber- |
| Trazer | to bring | trazer- | trouxer- |
| Saber | to know | saber- | souber- |
| Pôr | to put | por- | puser- |
| Querer | to want, to wish | querer- | quiser- |
The endings to the personal infinitive and the future subjunctive are identical. These are:
| Ending | |
|---|---|
| Eu | |
| Tu | es |
| Ele/ela/você | |
| Nós | mos |
| Vós | des |
| Eles/elas/vocês | em |
An example of this is someone (likely to be elected president) saying:
Se (eu) for eleito presidente, acabarei com a fome. "If (I) am elected president, I will end famine."
Compare the latter with:
Se (eu) fosse eleito presidente, acabaria com a fome. "If (I) was elected president, I would end famine."
Equally, someone talking about another could say:
Quando (tu) fores mais velho... "When (you) are older..."
Regular verbs in the subjunctive:
Achar (to find, to believe) is a regular "-ar" verb.
| Present | Imperfect | Future | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eu | ache | achasse | achar |
| Tu | aches | achasses | achares |
| Ele/ela/você | ache | achasse | achar |
| Nós | achemos | achassemos | acharmos |
| Vós | acheis | achasseis | achardes |
| Eles, elas, vocês | achem | achassem | acharem |
Correr (to run) is a regular "-er" verb.
| Present | Imperfect | Future | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eu | corra | corresse | correr |
| Tu | corras | corresses | correres |
| Ele/ela/você | corra | corresse | correr |
| Nós | corramos | corressemos | corrermos |
| Vós | corrais | corresseis | correrdes |
| Eles, elas, vocês | corram | corressem | correrem |
Partir (to leave, to break) is a regular "-ir" verb.
| Present | Imperfect | Future | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eu | parta | partisse | partir |
| Tu | partas | partisses | partires |
| Ele/ela/você | parta | partísse | partir |
| Nós | partamos | partíssemos | partirmos |
| Vós | partais | partisseis | partirdes |
| Eles, elas, vocês | partam | partissem | partirem |
Compound verbs (such as conter, to contain) follow the above, such as: Se eu contiver, se tu contiveres, se ele/ela/você contiver, etc.
Spanish
In Spanish, the subjunctive (subjuntivo) is used in conjunction with expressions of emotion, opinion, or viewpoint. It also is used to described situations that are considered unlikely or are in doubt, as well as for expressing disagreement, denial, or wishes.
Such examples of phrases that precede the subjunctive word are:
Es una lástima que (it's a shame that...) Es bueno que (its good that...) Es horroroso que (it's horrible that...)
To conjugate a regular verb in the present subjunctive, first conjugate the verb to the present indicative of the first-person singular (yo form). Then drop the "o" and reverse the verb endings: -ar endings for -er and -ir verbs, and -er endings for -ar verbs.
(examples: hablar, comer, escribir)
| -ar | -er | -ir | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yo | hable | coma | escriba |
| Tú | hables | comas | escribas |
| Él, ella, usted | hable | coma | escriba |
| Nosotros(as) | hablemos | comamos | escribamos |
| Vosotros(as) | habléis | comáis | escribáis |
| Ellos, ellas, ustedes | hablen | coman | escriban |
To conjugate a verb in the first imperfect subjunctive, take the 3rd person plural of the préterito simple (hablaron,comieron,escribieron), drop the -on; and add the endings of the first imperfect subjunctive:-a,-as,-a,-amos,-áis,-an:
(examples: hablar, comer, escribir)
| -ar | -er | -ir | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yo | hablara | comiera | escribiera |
| Tú | hablaras | comieras | escribieras |
| Él, ella, usted | hablara | comiera | escribiera |
| Nosotros(as) | habláramos | comieramos | escribieramos |
| Vosotros(as) | hablaráis | comieráis | escribieráis |
| Ellos, ellas, ustedes | hablaran | comieran | escribieran |
To conjugate a verb in the second imperfect subjunctive¹, take the 3rd person plural of the préterito simple (hablaron,comieron,escribieron), drop the -ron; and add the endings of the first imperfect subjunctive:-se,-ses,-se,-semos,-séis,-sen; or take the first imperfect subjunctive and change the -ra- into -se-:
(examples: hablar, comer, escribir)
| -ar | -er | -ir | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yo | hablase | comiese | escribiese |
| Tú | hablases | comieses | escribieses |
| Él, ella, usted | hablase | comiese | escribiese |
| Nosotros(as) | hablásemos | comamiesemos | escribiesemos |
| Vosotros(as) | hablaséis | comieséis | escribieséis |
| Ellos, ellas, ustedes | hablasen | comiesen | escribiesen |
To conjugate a verb in the future subjunctive², take the second imperfect subjunctive; and chane the -s- into -r-:
(examples: hablar, comer, escribir)
| -ar | -er | -ir | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yo | hablare | comiere | escribiere |
| Tú | hablares | comieres | escribieres |
| Él, ella, usted | hablare | comiere | escribiere |
| Nosotros(as) | habláremos | comieremos | escribieremos |
| Vosotros(as) | hablaréis | comieréis | escrieréis |
| Ellos, ellas, ustedes | hablieren | comieren | escribieren |
To conjugate a verb in the perfect tenses of the subjunctive, take the subjunctive forms of haber (haya,hubiera,hubiese and hubiere) and add the past participle (hablado,comido,escrito).
To conjugate a verb in the progressive tenses of the subjunctive, take the subjunctive forms of estar (esté,estuviera,estuviese and estuviere) and add the gerund (hablando,comiendo,escribiendo).
To conjugate a verb in the perfect progressive tenses of the subjunctive, take the subjunctive forms of haber (haya,hubiera,hubiese and hubiere) add the past participle of estar (estado) and add the gerund (hablando,comiendo,escribiendo).
¹The second form of the past subjunctive, ending in (-ase, -iese, etc.) is a literary, somewhat archaic tense that is not used in everyday speech, but can be found frequently in literature, poetry, and other writings.
²The future subjunctive tense has become all but extinct in Spanish. It is never heard in everyday speech, and is usually reserved solely for literature, archaic phrases and expressions, and legal documents. Phrases expressing the subjunctive in a future time-frame instead employ the present subjunctive. For example: "I hope it will rain tomorrow" would simply be "Espero que mañana llueva".
The subjunctive in Indo-European
The reconstructed, hypothetical Proto Indo-European language, proposed parent to English and the other Germanic languages as well as the Latinate Romance languages, the Slavic languages, and several other language families, had two closely related moods that many of the daughter languages combined or confounded: the subjunctive and the optative moods.
In Indo-European, the subjunctive was formed by using the full ablaut grade of the root of the verb, and adding 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 contrary to fact 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 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 earliest times, and the optative and imperative are in comparison less commonly used. In the later language (from c.500BC), the subjunctive falls out of use, with the optative or imperative being used instead. 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.
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."
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 typically marks the subjunctive; grefr, "he digs", becomes grafi, "let him dig". While most of the signs of this 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 Arabic
In Literary Arabic the verb in its imperfective aspect (almudāri‘) has a subjunctive form called the mansūb form. It is distinct from the indicative in either ending in -a or dropping the final n:
- 3 sing. masc. yaktubu "he writes / is writing / will write" → yaktuba "he may / should write"
- 3 plur. masc. yaktubūna → yaktubū
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, but there it is not through endings but a prefix. In Levantine Arabic, the indicative has b- while the subjunctive lacks it:
- 3 sing. masc. huwwe byuktob "he writes / is writing / will write" → yuktob "he may / should write"
- 3 plur. masc. homme byukotbu → yukotbu
Egyptian Arabic has a similar prefix bi-, while Moroccan Arabic uses ka- or ta-.
The subjunctive in Hebrew
Final vowels disappeared from Hebrew in prehistoric times, so the distinction between indicative, subjunctive and jussive is nearly totally 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 "let him be". In modern Hebrew the situation has been carried even further, with the falling into disuse of forms like yaqom and yehi. In the precative sense, modern Hebrew speakers often prepend the conjunction she- ("that") to mark the verb: hu yavo "he will come" → sheyavo "let him come." The subjunctive of the verb likhyot ("to live"), however, is still used in the expression y'khi ___ ("long live ___").
The subjunctive in German
In German it is generally accepted that there are six subjunctives: the present subjunctive (Konjunktiv I Praesens), the imperfect subjunctive (Konjunctiv II Imperfect), the future subjunctive (Konjunktiv I Futur), the perfect subjunctive (Konjunktiv I Perfekt), the pluperfect subjunctive (Konjunktiv II Pluperfekt) and the future perfect subjunctive (Konjunktiv I Futur II). The I or II determines wich verb-radical should be used: the praesens-radical(I) or the präteritum-radical(II).
To conjugate a regular verb in the present subjunctive, one must add the subjunctive endings (-e,-est,-e,-en,-et,en) to the praesens-radical. The praesens-radical is found by dropping the -(e)n in the present infinitive.
(examples: sein, kaufen, laufen)
| ich | sei | kaufe | laufe |
| du | sei(e)st | kaufest | laufest |
| er, sie, es | sei | kaufe | laufe |
| wir | seien | kaufen | laufen |
| ihr | seiet | kaufet | laufet |
| sie, Sie | seien | kaufen | laufen |
To conjugate a regular verb in the imperfect subjunctive, one must add the subjunctive endings (-e,-est,-e,-en,-et,en) to the präteritum-radical. The präteritum radical is found by dropping the -en in the first person plural of the simple past indicative. If it is possible, an umlaut should be added
(examples: sein, kaufen, laufen)
| ich | wäre | kaufte | liefe |
| du | wärest | kauftest | liefest |
| er, sie, es | wäre | kaufte | liefe |
| wir | wären | kauften | liefen |
| ihr | wäret | kauftet | liefet |
| sie, Sie | wären | kauften | liefen |
The future subjunctive is found by adding the present infinitive (sein, kaufen, laufen) to the present subjunctive of werden (er werde): er werde sein, er werde kaufen, er werde laufen.
The perfect subjunctive is found by adding the past participle (Partizip II) (gewesen, gekauft, gelaufen) to the present subjunctive of sein (er sei) or haben (er habe): er sei gewesen, er habe gekauft, er habe gelaufen.
The pluperfect subjunctive is found by adding the past participle (Partizip II) (gewesen, gekauft, gelaufen) to the imperfect subjunctive of sein (er wäre) or haben (er hätte): er wäre gewesen, er hätte gekauft, er hätte gelaufen.
The future perfect subjunctive is found by adding the past infinitive (gewesen sein, gekauft haben, gelaufen haben) to the present subjunctive of werden (er werde): er werde gewesen sein, er werde gekauft haben, er werde gelaufen haben.
Some Germans claim that there are two more subjunctives,i.d. the Konjunktiv II Futur (ich würde sein) and the Konjunctiv II Futur II (ich würde gewesen sein), but these are in fact conditionals (Konditional), and they are normally not recognized as being a subjunctive.
The subjunctive in German is used after certain conjunctions, e.g. wenn, fast, beinahe, damit,..., in wishes and in indirect speech.
- Wenn das Wetter gut wäre, kämen wir heute zu dir. (If the weather were good, we would come to you today.)
- Fast hätte das Auto ihn überfahren. (The car almost hit him.)
- Er sagt, er werde kommen. (He says, he will come.)
- Ich sage dir das damit du lernest (I am telling you this so you would learn.)
- Er lebe hoch. ((I wish) he live long.)
The subjunctive in Dutch
In Dutch the present subjunctive (aanvoegende wijs onvoltooid tegenwoordige tijd (O.T.T.)) is formed by adding -e to the praesens-radical of the verb in the singular and by adding -en to the verb in the plural. It is possible that the second person obtains an extra -t (this is determined by a set of rules known as the t-rules(t-regels)(in the plural the -n- then will drop. If the radical ends with a vowel (a,e,i,o,u,y) or ij, the -e- is also dropped.
- God hebbe zijn ziel. (The Lord have his soul).
- Lang leve de koning. (Long live the king).
- Hij ga in vrede. (May he go in peace).
- Gij nemet een lepel suiker. (You take a spoon of sugar).
- Dank zij zijn vrienden, kon hij toch slagen voor het examen. (Thanks to his friends he passed the examination.)
The past subjunctive (aanvoegende wijs onvoltooid verleden tijd (O.V.T.)) is formed by adding -e to the präteritum-radical of the verb in the singular and by adding -en to the verb in the plural. It is possible that the second person obtains an extra -t (this is determined by a set of rules known as the t-rules(t-regels)(in the plural the -n- then will drop.
- Ware hij rijk, hij kocht een kasteel. (If he were rich, he bought him a castle).
- Hielpe hij de bedelaar niet, hij zou zich schuldig gevoeld hebben. (If he didn't help the beggar, he would have felt guilty.)
The future subjunctive (aanvoegende wijs onvoltooid toekomende tijd (O.Tk.T.)) is formed by the present subjunctive of the verb zullen (ik zulle) and the present infinitive.
- Lang zulle hij leven. (May he live long.)
The perfect subjunctive (aanvoegende wijs voltooid tegenwoordige tijd (V.T.T.)) is formed by the present subjunctive of hebben (ik hebbe) or zijn (ik zij) and the past participle.
- Hoe het ook geweest zij, hij is geslaagd. (I don't care how he passed the exam, it is important that he passed.)
The pluperfect subjunctive (aanvoegende wijs voltooid verleden tijd (V.V.T.)) is formed by the past subjunctive of hebben (ik hadde) or zijn (ik ware) and the past participle.
- Ware hij thuis gebleven, hij had alles gemist. (If he had stayed at home, he would have missed everything.)
The future perfect subjunctive (aanvoegende wijs voltooid toekomende tijd (V.Tk.T.)) is formed by the future subjunctive of hebben (ik zulle hebben) or zijn (ik zulle zijn) and the past participle.
- Zulle hij het gemaakt hebben. (May he have done it.)
There also exist two tenses in Dutch, the aanvoegende wijs onvoltooid verleden toekomende tijd (O.V.Tk.T.) and the aanvoegende wijs voltooid verleden toekomende tijd (V.V.Tk.T.), about which it is not clear whether they are a subjunctive or a conditional.
- Ik zoude dat niet doen als ik u was. (I wouldn't do that if I were you.)
- Zoudet gij dat wel gedaan hebben? (Would you have done it?)
External links
- Introduction to the Subjunctive (as it relates to Spanish)