The subjunctive mood expresses doubt, uncertainty, wishes, and hopes. It is used in conditional sentences and requires a different verb form. Native speakers may not notice the difference, but it can be confusing for non-native speakers. Some verbs don’t seem to change due to conjugation.
The subjunctive mood is a verb form that is used to express doubt or uncertainty in a statement. When someone says something that is dubious or that is clearly known to be false, the subjunctive mood changes the form of the verb to express that sentiment. Another time the subjunctive mood is used is to convey that a speaker is stating something that is a wish, a hope, or an uncertain outcome. This verb in these circumstances is different from the verb that would be used in the indicative mood, even if the rest of the sentence is a declarative statement.
Conditional sentences or statements are the most common and recognizable use of the subjunctive mood. A sentence that begins with if and then states a condition that is uncertain or known to be false should contain a subjunctive verb. For example, someone might say, “If I were rich, I would” which points to a condition that is known to be false and an idea that depends on that condition. The verb “were” is the present subjunctive of the verb “to be”.
Even the expression of a wish or a hope, or the affirmation of an uncertain outcome, requires the use of the subjunctive mood. The phrase “I wish” is typically followed by another phrase that isn’t true yet or may not happen. This uncertainty is expressed using the subjunctive of the verb.
Changing the form of the verb in this way might seem grammatically incorrect because it uses what is normally the past tense form of a verb in a present sentence. For most native speakers, shape shifting just feels right. It’s only when someone stops to think about it or explains it to someone else that many native speakers will notice the difference. On the other hand, people who are new to the language can sometimes find the subjunctive mood quite confusing, especially when hearing it for the first time.
There are however cases where the verb doesn’t seem to have changed due to how a specific verb is conjugated for a specific subject. An example of this would be saying “you were” versus saying “she was” when expressing a wish or hope. Adding “I would like” to the beginning of both sentences makes it correct in the subjunctive, but the sentence “she was” sounds much more awkward by itself because it is so different from how that particular subject and that particular form of the verb used together.
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