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The English subjunctive is realized as a finite but tenseless clause.Subjunctive clauses use a bare or plain verb form, which lacks any inflection.For instance, a subjunctive clause would use the verb form "be" rather than "am/is/are" and "arrive" rather than "arrives", regardless of the person and number of the subject.
The subjunctive (also known as conjunctive in some languages) is a grammatical mood, a feature of an utterance that indicates the speaker's attitude toward it.Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, obligation, or action that has not yet occurred; the precise situations in which they are used ...
In some common fixed expressions or in old-fashioned or formal contexts, the present subjunctive is occasionally found. For example:If need be, we'll rent a car. see use of the present subjunctive), and the consequence using the future construction with will (or shall): If you make a mistake, someone will let you know.
A form identical to the infinitive can be used as a present subjunctive in certain contexts: It is important that he follow them or ... that he be committed to the cause. There is also a past subjunctive (distinct from the simple past only in the possible use of were instead of was ), used in some conditional sentences and similar: if I were ...
The base form or plain form (go, write, climb), which has several uses—as an infinitive, imperative, present subjunctive, and present indicative except in the third-person singular; The -s form (goes, writes, climbs), used as the present indicative in the third-person singular; The past tense or preterite (went, wrote, climbed)
In the Latin language, the present subjunctive has a usage labelled the "jussive subjunctive" or coniunctivus iussivus that expresses 3rd-person orders: [4] [5] Adiuvet ("Let him help.") Veniant ("Let them come.") A jussive use of the present subjunctive is also attested for the second person in sayings and poetry, as well as in early Latin. [6]
In Latin, the sequence of tenses rule affects dependent verbs in the subjunctive mood, mainly in indirect questions, indirect commands, and purpose clauses. [4] If the main verb is in one of the non-past tenses, the subordinate verb is usually in the present or perfect subjunctive (primary sequence); if the main verb is in one of the past tenses, the subordinate verb is usually in the ...
But when the subjunctive verb in an indefinite clause refers to a situation which is simultaneous with the time of the main verb, the present subjunctive is used: ἐπειδὰν ἡγῆται βασιλεύς, οὐδεὶς αὐτοῦ πρόσθεν πορεύεται. [49] epeidā̀n hēgêtai basileús, oudeìs autoû prósthen poreúetai.