Bahasa Inggris memiliki tiga mood. Indicative mood mengungkapkan pernyataan: I will go. Imperative mood mengungkapkan perintah langsung atau permintaan: Go do what I told you. Dalam kalimat dalam imperative mood, subyek yang dipahami selalu you. Subjunctive mood sekarang terutama digunakan untuk mengungkapkan keinginan dan kondisi bertentangan dengan fakta: I wish that I were at home. If I were you, I would leave now. Subjunctive seharusnya juga digunakan dalam klausa that yang mengungkapkan permintaan formal, resolusi, rekomendasi, keharusan, atau pergerakan: He moved that the motion be tabled.

Subjunctive mood menggunakan bentuk khusus dalam beberapa tenses, orang, dan jumlah verba be dan dalam orang ketiga tunggal, present, dan present perfect tenses dari semua verba. Tabel berikut menunjukkan variasi ini:

 

Subjunctive Mood: To Be

	SINGULAR	PLURAL
PRESENT TENSE	I be [not am]	we be [not are]
	you be [not are]	you be [not are]
	he, she, it be [not is]	they be [not are]
PAST TENSE	I were [not was]	we were
	you were	you were
	he, she, it were [not was]	they were
PRESENT PERFECT	I have been	we have been
TENSE	you have been	you have been
	he, she, it have been [not has]	they have been
PAST PERFECT TENSE	had been (all persons and numbers)

 

Subjunctive Mood: To Speak

 

	SINGULAR	PLURAL
PRESENT TENSE	I speak	we speak
	you speak	you speak
	he, she, it speak [not speaks]	they speak
PAST TENSE	I spoke	we spoke
	you spoke	you spoke
	he, she, it spoke	they spoke
PRESENT PERFECT	I have spoken	we have spoken
TENSE	you have spoken	you have spoken
	he, she, it have spoken [not	they have spoken
	has spoken]
PAST PERFECT	had spoken (all persons and numbers)

       TENSE

Kalimat berikut menggambarkan penggunaan subjunctive yang benar:

I demand that this defendant be found guilty.

My lawyer has insisted that the judge have delivered her opinion by tomorrow morning.

If this woman be a citizen, as she claims, why have we found no public record of her existence?

They would not have asked that we be consulted if they were not interested in our opinions.

                   If Farouk were a Republican, he could not have been elected.  

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