What is the subjunctive mood?
Well, to talk about the subjunctive mood
first we need to know what the
What's the "Indicative mood"?
The indicative mood talks about
real things, facts, real life
normal things
So when I talk about facts, real things
the verbs don't change nothing strange
happens to them and when nothing strange
happens to the verbs and we're talking
about real life, real facts - That is what
we call the indicative mood
it is what it is. It's real life.
Well done! You just learned the indicative mood!
And what's the opposite of real?
Not real
Imaginary things, right?
That is when we use the "Subjunctive mood"
When we're talking about things which are not real
So for example:
those lovely creamy types of sentences
For example:
Notice that she said:
not I suggest that you ARE asleep
Why?!
Well this is another example of the Subjunctive Mood
That verb "Suggest" has the "THAT" Clause
We use the verb "BE"
and it doesn't change.
"I suggest you BE..."
"He suggests that I BE..."
What!? English is ridiculous!
Ah HAH! So If I say:
"I believe that God NOT BE real"
or "I believe God BE real"
That would be the correct way to say it, right?!
I mean it's a belief
Right? Right?
Well this is an example of how the English language changes over time the
The Subjunctive mood is kind of dying
It's not very common anymore
The subjunctive mood isn't super common these days
So if you said something like:
"I believe God not be real"
That would sound kind of old-fashioned
Today, you would say "I believe God ISN'T real"
That would sound more common. Why?!
Well it's that indicative mood we learned earlier
The subjunctive mood is slowly being replaced by that indicative mood
Why?
Because it's easy, and we don't need to change verbs in strange ways
However in the example we heard:
"I suggest that you BE asleep before ten o'clock"
Yeah you'd probably still hear that from parents.
Why is that one ok, and this one not?
Why? Because English, that's why
How do other verbs other than "BE" work
with "THAT" clauses?
Super easy! Just use the infinitive without "to"
Easy!
So for official motions, statements, orders, for example:
That example
think of it this way:
If after "everyone"
it said "must be", we know it's an order
right? So with an official order, command,
statement, or motion
Then we use that "Subjunctive mood"
Again, these days, subjunctive mood is not super common
in fact we only really see it when we're
talking about things which are not real
things which are imaginary
so in sentences like "I wish...", "If only...", "As if..."
If you're using that second conditional to talk about an imaginary
present situation, you should use that
"Subjunctive mood" and if you're using the
And if you're using the verb "BE" after a pronoun it should be
"Were" for all pronouns
yes, even he/she/it and I.
Indicative mood: "if I was..."
Subjunctive mood: "If I were..."
Why? Because English!
I am neither in walking dead or friends
with Eugene this situation is completely
untrue, unfortunately.
Eugene is awesome but
because it's completely untrue
that's why we use the subjunctive mood
and again just remember
"If i were..."
"If he/she/it were..."
all pronouns: "If... were..."
So we've all heard the very common sentence:
Shouldn't it be "If I WERE you"?
Well now you know the answer
"If I were you..." That's the subjunctive mood, and that's correct
because it's not a real situation
However like I said before:
English changes so damn fast
That many many people say "If I WAS you..."
And "If I was..." is becoming the normal way to use it
Even though the Subjunctive mood is more correct
But...Meh.
"If I was..." You'll hear it a lot
and if you say it, no one will kill you
How do we use subjunctive mood with wishes?
These are all present situations which are not real
again the same rule applies:
We use the verb "WERE" when we need "BE"
let's contrast it with "hope"
"Hope" we use for things which might be real,
it's possible, it could happen for example:
Sunny... tomorrow.
Could happen, so i'll use "Hope"
Not "Wish"
You understood everything?!
Awesome! Okay click here to watch a video
where we use the subjunctive mood in
many many different examples
So click here to watch that and click here to
subscribe see you in the next class