User:Ed Hock

The Subjunctive in English and Spanish

The subjunctive mood is a form of the verb which is used to express circumstances which are doubtful, desired, or which may not be the case. This contrasts with the indicative mood, which indicates statements statements of fact which are either true or false. Although we use the subjunctive in English all the time, we often do not recognize it because it is only marked in third person verbs and in the verb to be. Otherwise it is identical to the indicative form. For example:

Indicative:

I insist that he is here. (Look, he's standing behind the curtains!) I am rich, so I don't have to work. I asked the judge, and my client was shown mercy.

Subjunctive:

I insist that he be here - If not, the case will be dismissed. If I were rich (but I'm not) I would not have to work. I ask, Judge, that my client be shown mercy,

The first three examples describe matters of fact, and are placed in the indicative. The next three examples describe states that cannot be described as true. In English we use the present subjunctive to describe matters of of doubt and desire, and the past subjunctive to describe counterfactuals, states that are not true but might have been. Notice that in English we can sometimes use the infinite instead of the subjunctive: "I insist for him to be here." "I ask for him to be shown mercy." Because the subjunctive in English is identical in form to the indicative in most cases (except for "to be" and third person forms which drop the -s ending in the present) it is easy to get confused. People produce incorrect forms such as "If I was king" instead of "If I were king." But in Spanish the forms are always different from the indicative, and they are used much more often. Subtle differences of meaning can be expressed by the proper use of the subjunctive in Spanish.

The present subjunctive is used just as in english to express wishes and desires:

Es importante que hable español con sus clientes. It is important that he speak Spanish with his clients.

In English grammar, the English subjunctive is a verb mood typically used in dependent clauses to express a wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, necessity, or action that has not yet occurred. It is sometimes referred to as the conjunctive mood, as it often follows a conjunction.

Form

The subjunctive in Modern English

The subjunctive mood, sometimes called conjunctive mood, has several uses in dependent clauses. Examples include discussing hypothetical or unlikely events, expressing opinions or emotions, or making polite requests (the exact scope is language-specific). A subjunctive mood exists in English, but is not obligatory. Example: "I suggested that Paul eat an apple", Paul is not in fact eating an apple. Contrast this with the sentence "Paul eats an apple", where the verb "to eat" is in the present tense, indicative mood. Another way, especially in British English, of expressing this might be "I suggested that Paul should eat an apple", derived from "Paul should eat an apple."

Other uses of the subjunctive in English, as in "And if he be not able to bring a lamb, then he shall bring for his trespass..." (KJV Leviticus 5:7) have definitely become archaic. Statements such as "I will ensure that he leave immediately" often sound archaic or overly formal, and have been almost completely supplanted by constructions with the indicative, like "I will ensure that he leaves immediately".

The subjunctive mood figures prominently in the grammar of the Romance languages, which require this mood for certain types of dependent clauses. This point commonly causes difficulty for English speakers learning these languages.

The subjunctive in Modern English is easily distinguished in a great variety of contexts where the sense is past tense, but the form of the subjunctive verb required is present: "It was required that we go to the back of the line." Were it not for the subjunctive, the form of "to go" for something in the past would be went. Compare with the indicative, "Everyone knows that we went to the back of the line."

	Present indicative	Present subjunctive	Past indicative	Past subjunctive
to own (example regular verb)	I own he/she/it owns we/you/they own	I own he/she/it own we/you/they own	I owned he/she/it owned we/you/they owned	I owned he/she/it owned we/you/they owned
to be	I am he/she/it is we/you/they are	I be he/she/it be we/you/they be	I was he/she/it was we/you/they were	I were he/she/it were we/you/they were

As shown in the above table, the form of the subjunctive is distinguishable from the indicative in these circumstances:

1. in the third person singular of any verb in the present tense;
2. in the first and third persons singular of the verb "be" in the past tense; and,
3. in all instances of the verb "be" in the present tense

Present and past subjunctive

The terms present subjunctive and past subjunctive can be misunderstood, as they describe forms rather than meanings. The past and present subjunctives are so called because they resemble the past and present indicatives (respectively), but the difference between them is a difference in modality, not temporality.

For example, in "I asked that it be done yesterday," be done (a present subjunctive) has no present-tense sense. Likewise, in "If that were true, I would know it," were (a past subjunctive) has no past-tense sense and instead describes a counterfactual condition.

When used in such counterfactual sentences with "if", the past subjunctive form is usually called the "present conditional" or "conditional 2" in modern textbooks, though some grammarians reserve these terms for the form with "would" in the second clause of the sentence.

To give another example, "It's high time (that) we bought a new car". Although bought appears to be the past tense of the verb to buy, actually the car has not been purchased yet. Here, the past subjunctive is used to express a wish or a suggestion.

One could also say, "It's high time we buy a new car," which is using present subjunctive. Also, "It's time I be the pitcher," etc...

Example: I would rather he do/did that. Example: I would rather he have/had done that.

These above examples show when both a past and present subjunctive form can be used (or a past perfect and present perfect subjunctive form).

Note that by contrast, the present perfect subjunctive — that he have done — is often used in descriptions of requirements. For example, this sentence declares two years of Spanish to be an important requirement for continuation:

• It is important that he have completed two years of Spanish before graduation.

However, this sentence emphasizes that what is important is the fact that he has completed two years of Spanish:

• It is important that he has completed two years of Spanish before graduation.

Construction by inversion

Where the subjunctive is used after "if" in a counterfactual condition (see below), the same effect can be achieved by omitting the "if" and inverting the verb and subject positions.

• If I were the President... / Were I the President...
• If he had known then... / Had he known then...
• If that be the case then... / Be that the case then...

Set phrases

The subjunctive is used in a number of fixed phrases, relics from an older form of the language where it was much more common. Some could be misconstrued as the imperative mood. Common examples are:

• if need be
• as it were
• if I were you; were I you
• be that as it may
• (God) bless you!
• come Monday (Tuesday, etc.)
• come what may
• far be it from (or for) me
• until death do us part
• Heaven forbid
• so be it
• suffice it to say
• woe betide
• peace be with you
• long live the king
• the powers that be
• albeit (a synthesis of all be it, i.e. although it be)
• truth be told
• rue the day
• would that it were
• rest in peace
• let (may) it be known
• ...need only.../...need not...
• May the best man win

Usage

To express a command, request, or suggestion

Content clauses expressing commands, requests, or suggestions commonly use the present subjunctive in US English, but this usage is now very rare in speech and rare in writing in UK English. Such clauses may be introduced by a verb like propose, suggest, recommend, move (in the parliamentary sense), demand, or mandate, by an adjective like imperative, important, adamant, or necessary, or by a noun like insistence or proposal.

This use of the subjunctive is known as the mandative subjunctive or the jussive subjunctive and is said to be the most common use of the subjunctive in English. Other authorities say this use is much less common than that in suppositions or hypotheses (e.g. "If she asked for help, I'd help her.") In UK English, a construction with "should" is often considered preferable.

Note that the present subjunctive is used in these cases regardless of the actual time reference (which must be conveyed by the tense of the main verb):

• I move(d) that the bill be put to a vote.
• I ask(ed) that he be shown mercy.
• It is (or was) necessary that we not forget our instructions. / It is (or was) necessary lest we forget our instructions.
• Her insistence that he leave seems (or seemed) rude.

Some of these words have two senses: one that introduces a clause in the indicative, and one that introduces a clause in the subjunctive. For example, insist can mean assert forcefully and persistently, in which case it introduces the indicative (He insisted that he was innocent), or it can mean demand forcefully and persistently, in which case it introduces the subjunctive (He insisted that he be given the chance to prove it). This use is typically North American English. The verb in such constructions is sometimes mistakenly believed to be a sort of infinitive, contributing to the notion of the dying subjunctive.

Sometimes the verb of a main clause can be in the subjunctive mood, without any explicit word like the above; this carries the force of a third-person request. This is the usage found in many set expressions, such as God bless you.

• America, America, God shed His grace on thee, and crown thy good with brotherhood ("America the Beautiful")
• God save our gracious Queen

The traditional English text of the Aaronic blessing is cast entirely in the subjunctive, with jussive force:

The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace.

To express a wish

The past subjunctive is used after the verb to wish: I wish he were here or I wished he were there. This use of the subjunctive is sometimes known as the "volitional" subjunctive:

• Oh, I wish I were in the land of cotton.

However, after the construction would that to express wishful hypothesis rather than condition, it seems that either past or present subjunctive could be used, depending on whether the hypothetical situation WERE completely abstract and not imminent (present) or potentially realizable (past), much like above.

• I would that my Lord forgive me one day.
• He would that his master not be so cruel.
• I would that the subjunctive be restored to glory.

BUT

• I repent; I would that my Lord forgave me.
• In humble request, he would that his master were not so cruel.
• Fellow editors, I would that the subjunctive were restored to glory.

To express a hypothesis

The past subjunctive is used after the conjunction if in a contrary-to-fact and contrary-to-possibility protasis. For example:

• If I were a millionaire, I would buy a sports car.
• If he had a car with him, he could drive us there.
• If I were a rich man...

In the same vein, the past subjunctive is used following the conjunctions as if and as though to express a contrary-to-fact situation that reality is supposed to resemble:

• She looked as though she were going to kill him, but after glaring for a bit, she just stormed off.
• He tried to explain it — as if he knew anything about the subject!

The past subjunctive is also used to express hypothetical situations:

• ? I am torn; if I were to go with choice A, I would be better off in the short term, but if I were to go with choice B, I might be better off in the long term.

To express a purpose

The conjunction lest, indicating a negative purpose, generally introduces a subjunctive clause:

• I eat lest I die.
• I will place the book back on the shelf, lest it get lost.

The conjunction in order that, indicating a positive purpose, also sometimes introduces a subjunctive clause, though it more commonly introduces a clause using the auxiliary verb may (or in the subjunctive, might):

• I am putting your dinner in the oven in order that it (may) keep warm.
• He wrote it in his diary in order that he (might) remember.

To express a doubt or supposition

The subjunctive is sometimes used after other conjunctions to express doubt or supposition, although this usage is nowadays more often replaced by the indicative.

• I will not let thee go, except [=unless] thou bless me. (Genesis 32:26)
• Murder, though it have no tongue, will speak.
• Whoever he be, he shall not go unpunished.
• But [=although] he were dead, yet shall he live. (New Testament)
• Fee, fie, fo, fum / I smell the blood of an Englishman; / Be he alive or be he dead, / I'll grind his bones to make my bread. (Jack and the Beanstalk)
• If I be found guilty, I shall be given the maximum punishment.
• I won't do it unless [or until] I be told to do it.
• Whether he vote for this or not (If he vote for it or if he not vote for it), we must proceed with the plan.
• I want you to give this money to him so that he have enough for lunch. (the conjunction "so that" takes a subjunctive in formal English)

Reduction in the usage of the subjunctive

The similarity of the subjunctive and the past tense has led to the confusion between the two, and the error is evident in various pop culture references and music lyrics.

• If I was President...
• If he was a ghost...
• If I was a rich girl...

This reduction of usage is not uniform; compare:

• If I Were a Carpenter, a song written by Tim Hardin
• If I Were a Boy, a song written by Toby Gad and BC Jean and recorded by singer Beyoncé Knowles in 2008.

However, in the context of the examples above, inversion cannot occur with the indicative as it would with the subjunctive; the following are ungrammatical, except insofar as they could be misinterpreted as questions:

• Was I the President...
• Was he a ghost...

Sources

The subjunctive

The subjunctive mood has a separate conjugation table with fewer tenses. It is used to express the speaker's opinion or judgment, such as doubts, possibilities, emotions, and events that may or may not occur.

Simple tenses

• presente de subjuntivo (present subjunctive) – Hable = "I speak, I am speaking, I shall/will speak"
• imperfecto de subjuntivo (imperfect subjunctive) – Hablara or Hablase = "If/Whether I spoke" or "I spoke"
• futuro (simple) de subjuntivo (future subjunctive) – Hablare = "I speak, I shall/will speak" (this tense is no longer used in the modern language, except in some fixed expressions and in written laws)

Perfect tenses

• pretérito perfecto de subjuntivo (present perfect subjunctive) – Haya hablado = "I have spoken, I spoke"
• pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo (pluperfect subjunctive) – Hubiera hablado or Hubiese hablado = "If/Whether I had spoken, I spoke"
• futuro compuesto del subjuntivo (future perfect subjunctive) – Hubiere hablado = "I shall/will have spoken" (this tense is no longer used in the modern language, except in some fixed expressions and in written laws)

Observations:

• The present subjunctive is formed from the stem of the first person present indicative of a verb. Therefore, for an irregular verb like salir with the first person salgo, the present subjunctive would be salga, not sala.
• The use of the imperfect subjunctive is determined by tense of the main verb of a sentence, not necessarily the tense of the subjunctive verb itself . This tense has a double set of forms, the "-ra" and the "-se" ones, which are interchangeable most of the time.
• The future subjunctive is rarely used in modern Spanish and mostly appears in old texts, legal documents, and certain fixed expressions such as venga lo que viniere ("come what may").

nctive Conjugations

To conjugate the imperfect subjunctive, take the third person plural preterite form of any regular, irregular, or stem-changing verb, drop the -RON ending to find the radical, and add the appropriate ending:

-RA conjugation

-SE conjugation

yo -ra nosotros -´ramos yo -se nosotros -´semos tú -ras vosotros -rais tú -ses vosotros -seis él -ra ellos -ran él -se ellos -sen