Proto-Germanic subjunctive
Already in Proto-Germanic (the distant ancestor of English, German, Dutch and Yiddish, as well as others), the optative became completely subsumed by the subjunctive. An example of the sound shifts evident after this subsuming can be seen in the verb beran 1st pers. sing. pret. sub. bērī, 2nd pers. sing. pret. sub. bērīz, 3rd pers. sing. bērī and respectively the plural forms bērīme, bērīd̵, bērīd̵.
From Proto-Germanic, the subjunctive mood passed down into the Ingvaeonic Anglo-Frisian group, also referred to as Insular Germanic, of which Old English is a member. Simplification of inflexions took place along the way. The preterite subjunctive of beran now has only one form for singular, bǣre, and also only one form for plural, bǣren.
| Uses Of Subjunctive | Detail |
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| 1. Wish or Desire | Nó ðæt ýde byð tó be-fleonne – fremme sé þe wille- (Beowulf,ll. 1003-04) Not at all is [it] easy to escape – try as he might, he who will- The weak (I) verb “fremman” is rendered here in the third person singular present subjunctive. The phrase “try as he might” is an idiom in English and retains the now almost defunct subjunctive. In the indicative form of the verb, this would be “tries”. In order to render the correct nuance in modern English the modal verb “might” needs to be employed. In Old English a simple change from indicative to subjunctive suffices for such a shift in meaning. |
| 2. Command, Requirement, Suggestion and Recommendation | Hroðgar sume worde hét þæt iċ his ǽrest ðé ést ġe-sæde... (Beowulf, ll. 2156-57) Hrothgar commanded through certain word[s] that I first should declare to you his regard... The sense of a transferred imperative (i.e. the imperative of Hrothgar as transferred to the iċ character) rendered by the third person singular past subjunctive form of (ge)secgan is expressed in modern English with the modal construction should + infinitive. |
| 3. After impersonal verbs | Ús dafenaþ ðæt wé waċien. [It] is fitting for us that we should stay awake. Here the subjunctive gives a sense of a moral code acting on the speaker from outside and also adds to the sense of the stated not being in the realm of facts. |
| 4. Hypothetical Situations | Sentences introducing a hypothetical concept often start with swelċe (as if), ġif (if), bútan (unless) and þéah or þéah þe (although). Ġif messe-preost his áġen líf ríhtliċe fadie, þonne is ríht þæt his wurðscipe wexe. If a priest lives his own life in a righteous way, then [it] is right that his honour should grow. |
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