The Subjunctive
So far, all the verbs we have looked at have been in the indicative mood:
I walked to the forum.
The old man, seeing the snake, ran away.
Can you sell me a horse?
The indicative mood is called the indicative because it states a fact or a certainty. In all
the sentences above, the verb actually happened. This is different in the subjunctive,
which is used to state a possibility or probability:
I may walk to the forum today.
The old man, upon seeing the snake, should run away.
If only you’d sold me that horse!
However, you are not very likely to see the subjunctive used like this until A level. The
most common use of it in GCSE is within different constructions (eg purpose clauses,
result clauses etc.)
Remember that a verb in the subjunctive still have a tense, number and can be active or
passive - it will just look slightly different.
The Imperfect Subjunctive
This is probably the most common form of the subjunctive at GCSE. It is very easy to
form - the basic person endings (-m, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt) are added to the infinitive:
portarem monerem traherem audirem
portares moneres traheres audires
portaret moneret traheret audiret
portaremus moneremus traheremus audiremus
portaretis moneretis traheretis audiretis
portarent monerent traherent audirent
The passive form of the imperfect subjunctive is made in the same way, but with the
passive form endings:
portarer
portareris
portaretur
portaremur
portaremini
portarentur
Purpose Clauses
This is one of the most common uses of the subjunctive. A purpose clause explains the
aim or purpose of doing something. It usually uses ‘so that’ or ‘so’:
I went to Rome to see the emperor.
He worked hard so that he could get an A*.
So far, all the verbs we have looked at have been in the indicative mood:
I walked to the forum.
The old man, seeing the snake, ran away.
Can you sell me a horse?
The indicative mood is called the indicative because it states a fact or a certainty. In all
the sentences above, the verb actually happened. This is different in the subjunctive,
which is used to state a possibility or probability:
I may walk to the forum today.
The old man, upon seeing the snake, should run away.
If only you’d sold me that horse!
However, you are not very likely to see the subjunctive used like this until A level. The
most common use of it in GCSE is within different constructions (eg purpose clauses,
result clauses etc.)
Remember that a verb in the subjunctive still have a tense, number and can be active or
passive - it will just look slightly different.
The Imperfect Subjunctive
This is probably the most common form of the subjunctive at GCSE. It is very easy to
form - the basic person endings (-m, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt) are added to the infinitive:
portarem monerem traherem audirem
portares moneres traheres audires
portaret moneret traheret audiret
portaremus moneremus traheremus audiremus
portaretis moneretis traheretis audiretis
portarent monerent traherent audirent
The passive form of the imperfect subjunctive is made in the same way, but with the
passive form endings:
portarer
portareris
portaretur
portaremur
portaremini
portarentur
Purpose Clauses
This is one of the most common uses of the subjunctive. A purpose clause explains the
aim or purpose of doing something. It usually uses ‘so that’ or ‘so’:
I went to Rome to see the emperor.
He worked hard so that he could get an A*.
