Unit 25 The Mood

In Old English there were three moods. The indicative mood was used to state an action as real. The other two moods had a subjective meaning. The imperative expressed order, or request (2^nd person, sg. and pl.).

The forms of the subjunctive mood, like other forms of the verb, were synthetic. They conveyed a very general meaning of unreality or supposition: Present Subjunctive expressed unlikeliness, Past Subjunctive – unreality, impossibility.

The use of the subjunctive mood was in many respects different from its use in later ages. In addition to its use in conditional sentences the subjunctive mood could be found in clauses of time, result and in clauses presenting reported speech.

1. Conjugation of Strong Verbs

Infinitive – helpan

Participle I – helpende

Participle II – holpen

The Ind. Mood

The Subj. Mood

The Imp. Mood

Present Tense

helpe hilpst hilpþ 1-3. helpaþ

helpe helpen

2nd sg. help 2nd pl. helpaþ

Preterite Tense

healp hulpe healp 1-3. hulpon

hulpe hulpen

2. Conjugation of Weak Verbs

Infinitive – dēman

Participle I – dēmende

Participle II – (ge) dēmed

The Ind. Mood

The Subj. Mood

The Imp. Mood

Present Tense

dēme dēmst dēmþ 1-3. dēmaþ

Dēme dēmen

2nd sg. dēm 2nd pl. dēmaþ

Preterite Tense

dēmde dēmdest dēmde 1-3. dēmdon

dēmde dēmden

C. The verbs bēon, wesan.

Participle I – bēonde, wesende

Participle II – no forms

The Ind. Mood

The Subj. Mood

The Imp. Mood

Present Tense

1. 2. 3. 1-3.

eom eart is sind(on) sint

bēo bist biþ bēoþ

sīe, sī, sy, bēo s īen, sīn, syn, bēon

2nd sg. wes, bēo 2nd pl. wesaþ, bēoþ

Past Tense

1. 2. 3/ 1-3.

wæs wǣre wæs wǣron

wǣre wǣron

In Middle English the subjunctive preserved many features it had in Old English. It was often used in conditional, temporal and concessional clauses. But the formal distinctions between the subjunctive and indicative moods were to a large extent neutralized. The increased homonymy of the forms stimulated the more extensive use of modal phrases, indicating imaginary and probable actions. Thus, in the course of Middle English and Early Modern English there appeared several analytical forms of the subjunctive mood.

ME sholde and wolde began to weaken and even lose their lexical meanings and turn into auxiliaries. By the age of Shakespeare the change was complete and the forms should/would – originally Past Subjunctive of shall and will – had become formal markers of the new, analytical forms of the subjunctive mood.

As the frequency of the forms with should and would grew, the employment of the old synthetic forms became more restricted, but even in Early Modern English, the new analytical forms did not differ from the synthetic forms in meanings and usage and were interchangeable in any context.

In order to indicate improbable events in the past, a new set of forms came to be used: the Past Perfect forms which did not differ from the forms of the indicative mood. These forms occur already at the time of Chaucer and are quite common in later ages (Rastorguyeva 1983).