Part 211

=Conjunctions never determine the mood in which a verb is to be used.= The mood is always determined by the nature of the statement we wish to make. So one and the same verb may be followed, in the dependent clause, either by the Indicative or the Subjunctive Mood.

EXAMPLES.

+Der Gefangene ~ist~ tot; er ~ist~ heute Morgen gestorben.+ (Positive statement.)

The prisoner is dead; he died this morning.

+Ich bin überzeugt, daß er es ~gesagt hat~.+ (Certainty.)

I am convinced that he has said it.

+Der Mensch ~ist~ sterblich.+ (A fact.)

Man is mortal.

+Ich habe gehört, daß er zum Minister ~ernannt ist~.+

I have heard that he has been appointed a minister, (and I do not doubt it).

(Here the Indicative Mood is used, because I wish to imply that I have no doubt about the accuracy of the statement.)

+Ich habe gehört, daß er zum Minister ~ernannt sei~+ (see § 30).

I have heard that he has been appointed a minister, (but I rather doubt it).

(Here the Subjunctive Mood is used because I wish to express a doubt about the accuracy of the statement, which is expressed in English by the words ‘but I rather doubt it.’)

C. THE SUBJUNCTIVE (OR CONJUNCTIVE) MOOD.

(See § 25.)

§ 26. Since, in the best modern works of English Literature, we frequently find the Indicative employed instead of the Subjunctive in clauses of uncertainty and supposition, and since, with the exception of the verb to be, it is evidently the tendency of the English language to reject the distinction of the Subjunctive Mood, the student will encounter no small difficulty in learning the right use of the German Subjunctive, which is most extensively used, and gives often great power, conciseness, and elegance to the mode of speaking.

=The Subjunctive Mood= is used both in principal and subordinate clauses, and =denotes Uncertainty and Supposition=.

EXAMPLES.

+Man sagt er ~sei~ gestorben+ (see § 29). (Uncertainty.)

People say (i.e. it is rumoured) he is dead.

+Plato glaubte, daß nur ~ein~ Gott ~sei~.+ (Supposition.)

Plato thought that there was only one God, (but that it was a matter of doubt).

§ 27. =The Subjunctive expresses Command, Wish, and Concession.=

EXAMPLES.

+Er ~nehme~ seine Weite, wie’s Brauch ist!+ (Schiller.) (Command.)

Let him take his distance as it is customary!

+Gott ~sei~ mit dir!+ (Wish.)