subjunctive mood
1
8.8
- noun
- /səbˈdʒʌŋktɪv muːd/
- Specialized
:
modo subjuntivo
- The zeppelin historian Douglas Robinson, for instance, marshals the phrase if only to translate facts into the subjunctive mood.
Examples
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In German, this is readily explained by the use of the subjunctive mood in indirect quotations, which is nearly always done.
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I do not think that anyone else has written anything here about the use of the subjunctive mood to express elements of doubt in statements, questions, commands, etc.
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In German, the subjunctive mood is alive and well, and people use it every day.
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Nice use of the subjunctive mood.
Academic text (2005) -
The other form of subjunctive mood in English still exists, but its use has become less and less common.
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Most speakers have no idea that this is in the subjunctive mood.
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However, millions and millions of people have no idea that they are using the subjunctive mood when they use the word "would."
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The subjunctive mood is employed to make it clear that you are talking about hypothetical possibilities.
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Believe it or not, this is in the subjunctive mood, too: "May God be with us." (Or Allah, or Jesus, or the Buddha.)
Blog text (31) -
The subjunctive mood is used in the sentence, 'If I were a bird, I would fly away,' to express a hypothetical wish.
Synonyms
4
8.9
A verb mood used to show wishes, suggestions, demands, or imagined situations
A short form for the verb form used to show wishes or imagined situations
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is directly compositional: 'subjunctive' names a type of verb form expressing wishes or hypotheticals and 'mood' names the grammatical category, so together they denote the grammatical mood that expresses non-factual or hypothetical situations. This is a cross-linguistic grammatical category, so a B1 learner who knows both constituent words will readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Subjunctive mood gives a clear picture: the verb subjunctive is a special mood or tone that speakers use when they talk about 'what if', a 'wish', or things that are not real. That's why we use it today to show wishes, suggestions, requests, or actions that are only possible rather than true.