can anyone explain the "present subjunctive", "the imperative mood" and the "imperfect tense"

i think the last one is the "past habitual" like "we used to go..."?

thanks

The quickest to explain is the imperative. This is used in giving orders, eg "come here", "get up", "don't talk".

Imperfect is the past habitual as you said.

Present subjunctive: difficult to explain from an English point of view, although some subjunctives are found in English. [English subjunctives are usually past tense, so the present subjunctive is trickier.]

I found a list of fossilised subjunctives in English:

so be it, be that as it may, whether you be white or black, if need be, as it were, far be it from me to criticize, Heaven forbid, come what may, suffice it to say, etc.

If you say: "it is important that he does it straightaway", the "does" is just the ordinary indicative mood. But if you say: "it is important that he do it straightaway", that is present subjunctive. Although rarely found it is still a possibility in English.


The present subjunctive is often replaced by future in Irish anyway. It is an option to use it in certain constructions. Before he comes: sara dtaga sé

Another example in English is after "lest"

Indicative: he gets angry
Subjunctive: lest he get angry

This may help you get a feel for what the subjunctive is all about - things that are potential or hypothetical in the main. But maybe getting a feel for it is the best way.

I may be dead wrong on this, but I thought a common example of the subjunctive is when we use a "may" sentence, like "may you have good luck," go n-éirí an t-adh leat.

Others:

May you wear it well,

May you live long enough.

etc.

An bhfuil an ceart agam?

Yes, bodhrán, those are all subjunctive in Irish. I don't think it is possible to replace them with the future in those "wish" type injunctions.

Go dtaga do ríocht

In English this can be subjunctive in form (thy kingdom come) or use "may": may your kingdom come. May could be parsed as present subjunctive of a defective verb in English.

Similarly "should" is often a sign of (usually a past) subjunctive in English. If I should die/if I died: dá bhfaighinn bás

"present subjunctive" - usually for wishes "may you be well"

"the imperative mood" - command and orders "get out of here!"

"imperfect tense"/"past habitual" - we used to, or we would ... habitual actions in the past, "I used to study Irish ..."

go raibh maith agaibh

Seán,

I did a bit of Latin in school and had a reasonable grasp of grammatical terminology. However, I struggled to relate this to the Irish terms. So, in case this helps...

Present Subjunctive - An Modh Foshuiteach Láithreach

Imperative - An Modh Orduitheach

Imperfect/Past Habitual - An Aimsir Ghnáthchaite

The best way to go about grasping the subjunctive is to start with the indicative.

Present Indicative: she is there now. Is is an established fact that "she is there now" and the speaker, by using the indicative, is vouching for that fact.

Indicative = táscach (tásc = report, among other meanings), so the indicative is a straight report of fact.

The subjunctive deals with actions whose actual fulfillment - future, present or past - is not an established certainty or given fact in the mind of the speaker: "were she there now".

Subjunctive = foshuiteach (suiteach = fixed; fo-shuiteach = below the state of or less than fixed.

The subjunctive is the hardest one to grasp because it has almost disappeared in the English language http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperative_mood#English and is heavily on the retreat in other languages too. Circumlocutory forms of the indicative and conditional are supplanting the subjunctive: "if she was there now".

(Message edited by ormondo on November 05, 2009)

thanks everybody for the help