19.03.26: Level 3; Subjunctive [1] Mood

You first need to become familiar with two terms: (i) the indicative mood and (ii) the subjunctive mood.

The word mood does not refer to a specific tense. Each mood contains its own set of tenses — for example: present indicative, present subjunctive, imperfect indicative, imperfect subjunctive, and so on. The term is not easy to define neatly, but it refers to the speaker’s attitude toward the action or state — the perspective from which the action is expressed.

[i] All the verb tenses so far – both active and passive – have been in the indicative mood. They express real actions or states, for example:

Rōma in Ītaliā est. │ Rome is in Italy.

Rōmae habitābam. │ I used to live in Rome.

Mīles rēgem interfēcit. │ The soldier killed the king.

Mīlitēs hostēs interfēcerant. │ The soldiers had killed the enemy.

Rūs crās ībō. │ Tomorrow I’ll go to the country.

Vēxillum ventō movētur. │ The flag is being moved by the wind.

Gladiō vulnerātus est. │ He was killed by a sword.

Ab hostibus captus erat. │ He had been captured by the enemy.

If, for example, you look up interfēcit in Wiktionary, you will find its description: “third person singular perfect active indicative of interficiō”

[ii] The subjunctive mood, by contrast, does not express actions as real, factual events. If you look up interficiat, you will find: “third person singular present active subjunctive of interficiō.” What’s the difference?

Image #1: A good starting point is to look at some examples in English which, although not usually labeled as “subjunctive,” convey subjunctive ideas. First, compare Column A with Column B(1). Then, look at the headings in B(2), which identify the speaker’s “attitude” or perspective.

Consider the terms in B(2), for example: possibility, suggestion, hypothetical, unfulfilled — unreal. Pause and ask yourself: have any of these actions actually happened, or can the speaker guarantee that they will happen?

For instance, is “Yes, I can help you” the same as “Well, yes, I would like to help you”? Or is “He spoke clearly and everybody understood him” the same as “He spoke clearly hoping that everybody might be able to understand him”? Clearly not.

This is why English often adds modals — might, could, would — to give a different perspective on what is being said. The aim of the examples in the table is to give you a “feel” for the subjunctive. Sometimes translations of Latin subjunctives won’t use words like might, could, or would (though many do), but they reflect the way the subjunctive shapes the speaker’s thinking.

Image #2: In general, the indicative describes reality — what has happened or can be stated as fact — while the subjunctive expresses non-reality, uncertainty, desire, or suggestion.

Those headings – and others – are used to categorise different uses of the Latin subjunctive, and we will look at them all individually.