Subjunctive Verb Conjugations In English

Subjunctive verb conjugations are so rare and unnoticed in Modern English these days that English speakers mistakenly believe that English doesn’t have subjunctive mood.

Subjunctive verb conjugations are best seen in the third-person singular present tense conjugations for English verbs.

Recognizing and understanding how subjunctive conjugations work in English will help native English speakers learn how to use subjunctive conjugations in other languages.

Most Indo-European languages can conjugate verbs for the subjunctive mood.

• Assuming that he learn Mandarin, he would be able to speak to an additional 1.3 billion people.
  • Using ’learn’ instead of ’learns’ marks the subjunctive mood in English.
• Assuming the united kingdom were to leave the EU, they would regain control of their borders.
  • Using ’were’ instead of ’was’ marks the subjunctive mood in English.
• It was fated that he take up arms against his will.
  • ’Take’ is in the subjunctive mood because it was describing an action that hadn’t happened yet.
• The natives would have mocked him had he chose otherwise.
  • ’Chose’ was used here instead because it was describing a hypothetical action.
• What might ’spawn’ original creativity?
  • ’Might’ is an auxiliary verb that can create the uncertainty that is often needed in order to trigger the use of the subjunctive mood, which is ’spawn’ instead of ’spawns’ in this case.
• As you look around you, you must feel anxiety lest you fall below the level of achievement.
  • The use of the word ’lest’ will always trigger the subjunctive of any verb following it.
• As thou lookest around thee, thou must feel anxiety lest thou fall below the level of achievement.
  • The archaic use of thou and its conjugations also make the subjunctive appear visible since ’thou’ requires a different form in the indicative present tense and likewise has a noticeably different form in the subjunctive present mood.
• If I were you, I would choose to win, win, win.
  • The use of the word ’if’ triggers the use of the subjunctive.
• We definitely ought to take the possibility that Modern Civilization may never rebound very seriously.
  • The use of the word ’may’ triggers the use of the subjunctive.
• How about she enforce the rules equally instead of applying a double standard against me?
  • The use of the phrase ’how about’ triggers the use of the subjunctive.
• May he/she rest in peace.
  • The use of the word ’may’ triggers the use of the subjunctive.
• …, lest the relationship be destined to fail.
  • ’be’ is used instead of ’is’, which indicates that ’be’ is the subjunctive form of the verb ’to be’.
• Request that the buyout fee be waived.
  • ’be’ is used here instead of ’is’.
• We also have this tendency of seeking a lot of power, be it through …
  • The use of “be” in this sentence is an example of the English subjunctive conjugation being used on the verb “to be”.
• I could never do that, even if it were the most reasonable thing to do.
  • ’were’ instead of ’was’ or ’is’ is a subjunctive construction because it suggests that the action is not the most reasonable thing to do, but even if it hypothetically was the most reasonable thing to do, the speaker would not do it. Writing ’was’ or ’is’ instead of ’were’ would be indicative instead of subjunctive.
• “Be that as it may”
• “Truth be told”