subjunctives
"If I were" forms
Subjunctives is the plural of subjunctive, a grammatical mood used to express wishes, hypotheticals, demands, or situations contrary to fact.
English retains only traces of it, most visibly in phrases like if I were you or I demand that he leave immediately, where the verb form differs from ordinary indicative usage.
Some speakers treat these constructions as old-fashioned or overly formal, while others consider them essential to proper grammar.
Prevailing emotional condition
- verbAction-expressing word
- conjugationVerb form variation system
- conditionalDependent on prerequisites
- indicativeServing as a sign
imperative · inflection · syntax · clause · tense · morphology · counterfactual · hypothetical
Latin-descended language group
- LatinAncient Roman language
- SpanishLanguage of Iberia
- FrenchOf or from Paris's nation
- ItalianOf or from Rome's country
German · English · decline · obsolescence · were · be · formulaic · prescriptivism
Things hoped for
- demandsForceful requests or requirements
- suggestionsProposed ideas or advice
- recommendationsProposed courses of action
- hypotheticalsImagined possible situations
formulaic · suppositions · proposals · requirements · necessity · urgency · requests · commands
mood
Prevailing emotional condition
- verbAction-expressing word
- conjugationVerb form variation system
- conditionalDependent on prerequisites
indicative · imperative · inflection · syntax · clause · tense · morphology · counterfactual · hypothetical · agreement
Romance
Latin-descended language group
Italian · German · English · decline · obsolescence · were · be · formulaic · prescriptivism · descriptivism
wishes
Things hoped for
- demandsForceful requests or requirements
- suggestionsProposed ideas or advice
- recommendationsProposed courses of action
hypotheticals · formulaic · suppositions · proposals · requirements · necessity · urgency · requests · commands · insistence
lest
In case that
- inflectionsinflections, plurals, conjugations, declensions, verb forms
- grammardeclension, pronouns, adjectives, conjugation, nouns
- Bantu LanguagesSwahili, Zulu, Xhosa, Shona, Kiswahili
- word formationaffixes, affixation, roots, infix, morphemes
subjunctivesindicatives
Mood for factual assertions
declaratives · assertions · imperatives · simple present · simple past