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Subjunctive Verbs
Episode 13: September 16, 2006

Grammar Girl here.

Last week I promised we would do some hard-core grammar soon, and I'm not going to let you down. This next listener question is going to get us talking about subjunctive verbs.

Hey Grammar Girl. My name is Morgan and I was calling to see if you could clarify the "were" versus "was" issue, as in, "I would feel embarrassed if I 'were' calling my crush," or "I would feel embarrassed if I 'was' calling my crush." Just by itself, "I were" doesn't sound right, and maybe it isn't in this sentence, but is there ever an instance where "I were" is correct?

Hey, Morgan. Thanks for the question. Your question immediately started me singing, “If I were a rich man,” from Fiddler on the Roof, but this is something that a lot of people get confused about because, believe it or not, verbs have moods just like you do. Yes, before the Internet and before emoticons, somebody already thought that it was important to communicate moods. So, like many other languages, English verbs can have moods ranging from commanding to questioning and beyond. The mood of the verb to be, when you use the phrase I were, is called the subjunctive mood.

I know, now you're thinking, “What the heck is a subjunctive mood? It doesn't sound pretty.” Hundreds of years ago subjunctive verbs were pretty common, but in modern English their use is rare, with I were being one of the few examples left that doesn't sound completely archaic to our ears.

A subjunctive verb is used to communicate feelings such as wishfulness or imagination; things that aren't real or true. For example, in the song “If I Were A Rich Man” Tevye (and forgive me if I butchered his name) is fantasizing about all the things he would do if he were rich. He's not rich, he's just imagining, so if I were is the correct statement. I were often follows the word if, because if usually means you are wishing or imagining.

Note that the subjunctive verb is often followed by a statement using wishful words like would or could.

There are actually a lot more nitty-gritty details about subjunctive verbs, so for those of you who care I'll put some links in the blog; but going back to Morgan's specific question, I was initially a little bit flummoxed. One of the key elements in deciding whether to use I were or I was is whether the statement is wishful or true, but calling a crush doesn't seem to be either to me.

Normally, I would just rewrite the sentence so I didn't have to deal with it – it would take about 10 seconds – but that's what I love about doing this show: you all hold my feet to the fire! So, I did some more digging, and I learned that if something is possible, then you use the indicative verb and not the subjunctive. At the end of the day, it's still kind of a judgment call. I believe that Tevye will probably never be a rich man, but that it is certainly possible that you could call your crush. So, I think the correct way to say your example is, “If I was calling my crush, I would be embarrassed.” But the answer to your broader question is yes: there are instances where it is appropriate to use I were.

So, thanks Morgan for the question. And remember, if you want to call in with a question, the number if 206-338-GIRL (4475), or you can use the MyChingo tool at the website.

Here's a fun extra to make up for this episode being late: Ben MacIntyre wrote in the London newspaper The Times that, according to one source, the English language is expanding at a rapid rate and is quickly approaching its millionth word. In an excerpt, he says, "The web has revived the possibilities of word-coinage in a way not seen since Shakespearean times, when the language was gradually assuming its modern structure but was not yet codified into dictionaries (the first comprehensive English dictionary appeared in 1730). Then, as now, the lack of control, and the rapid absorption of new terms and ideas through exploration, colonization and science, enabled a great flowering of words. Of the 24,000 words used by Shakespeare, perhaps 1,700 were his own inventions [including]: besmirch, anchovy, shudder, [and] impede." There is a link to his entire article at our website.

That's all. As always, this is Grammar Girl, striving to be your friendly guide in the writing world. You'll find a transcript of this podcast at QuickAndDirtyTips.com.

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Comments (25) for Subjunctive Verbs | Subscribe to Comment

Bert Says:
6/8/2008 6:45:35 PM

This is a bit late, and nobody will probably read this, but for G*d's sake, the subjunctive is a mood (as GG explained) not a tense, yet half a dozen people have referred to it as a tense in these comments.

don boodel Says:
6/1/2008 10:09:56 PM

"your original question started me singing" should be "started my singing". It didn't "start you" ,it started your singing, it started your action, it didn't start you. you were already going. "I don't like him drinking". Are you trying to say that you don't like him or that you don't like the action of HIS drinking.Then it should be "I don't like his drinking">

dianne Says:
1/30/2008 9:24:04 PM

how to identify the word that the prepositional phrase modifies

wordlover Says:
5/19/2007 4:18:57 PM

Flaming is never my initial goal. I have a reflective nature and tend to give back what I receive. If your intent was truly to clarify what was implied by my sample sentence, then I apologize for the misplaced anvil. Although, your "advice" in the final sentence is most certainly not the "generic you." However, to keep peace on the board, I'll have to defer to your word that it is.

LD Says:
5/19/2007 8:08:11 AM

Nice. Grammar girl often sidesteps a sticky grammar challenge by suggesting a completely different way of phrasing something. I was suggesting just such a rephrasing to make more clear the meaning of your example sentence. I was speaking of the "generic you," not you personally, wordlover. No one is attacking anyone personally, except you that is.

wordlover Says:
5/19/2007 6:44:57 AM

LD, that sentence was taken out of context, but thanks for stepping up as the morality police. Silly me, I thought this was a grammar site. However, since you decided to draw first blood, I can recommend the depth and place where you can stick your anvil and the sentence in which it's contained.

LD Says:
5/19/2007 6:12:51 AM

For me, this is a hard sentence to analyze because it really makes no sense, and it's hard to stop thinking about that. All sorts of ideas come to mind. How could your "wish" about someone's marital status affect what you wear to a golf lesson? Are you implying that one might wear slutty clothes to entice the instructor to cheat on his wife, thereby instigating a divorce? If this is what you mean, I would try an entirely different sentence, such as "what does one wear to a golf lesson when you want to entice your married golf instructor?" But I would advise this sentence be used with only the closest of friends, since most people would probably steer clear of you!

wordlover Says:
5/18/2007 5:41:03 PM

Ok, with all the talk of using wishing and possibilities to determine the was/were construction, I'm completely baffled. What do you do in the case of a sentence like: What do you wear to a golf lesson when the instructor is married and you wish he wasn't/weren't? The wish would mean weren't was the proper form. The fact: he was married. The possibility occurred: he got a divorce soon after that golf lesson. So which is it? Wasn't or weren't?

grammar guru Says:
3/8/2007 2:21:33 AM

As I understand it, whenever you use a clause using "if" and not stating a FACT, you MUST use the subjunctive, thus "If I were calling my crush,. . ." is the ONLY possible correct use---because she WASN'T calling her crush! The example of the statement of the unknown but possible "If Anne was in the room when you and I were talking, then she knows what we're planning to do" is a great example (and correct!) Notice it is not followed by would or could!

AND just because people butchered the language 400 years ago, or today, doesn't make it right!
--GET WITH IT GRAMMAR GIRL!

Dave-O Says:
2/12/2007 5:03:37 PM

"approaching *it's* millionth word"
Ouch! :-)

LD Says:
2/5/2007 4:58:06 PM

I am not an expert like GG is, but I would use "weren't." You are conjecturing what would have happened if there had been no discount. But, the truth is that there WAS indeed a discount. In my view, the subjunctive tense is therefore in order because there is non-truth or doubt.

John Says:
2/5/2007 4:46:53 PM

"An example of the subjunctive: When Bill comes over for coffee we talk about football."

This is not the subjunctive. There are 4 forms that are commonly called the subjunctive in English:

1. the frozen subjunctive, which exists in set phrases like "God save the queen" and "be that as it may"

2. the uninflected form used in dependent clauses:
I insist that you be quiet.
I demand that this cease.

3. the inverted "had" and "were", as in
Had I know this yesterday, I would have done something.
Were I going to Paris, I would learn French.

4. the "were" form used with first and third person singular
If I were in Paris, I would learn French.
I wish I were going to Paris.

Having said that, both "if I were" and "if I was" are standard and interchangeable. According to Merriam-Webster's Concise Dictionary of English Usage, both "was" began to be used along with "were" for hypothetical statements about 3 or 4 hundred years ago.

angela nuñez Says:
2/5/2007 4:20:11 PM

hey! i find this site really cool and helpful! I just have a question...if I were to say : "if it (weren't /wasn't) for the discount I could not have had the ,means to afford it"

LD Says:
1/31/2007 8:14:21 PM

I respectfully disagree with grammar girl's take on the subjunctive being inappropriate if "something is possible" because this rule is vague and easily misinterpreted. Example: "If I were stronger, I would help you carry those anvils." Well, it's "possible" that I could be stronger (if I went to the gym, etc.) so I might choose to use the indicative form. But then I'd be missing out on the wonderful function of the subjunctive tense: the instant I say "If I were stronger..." the listener knows that I am indeed not strong enough! Therefore, I would expand the rule to include the subjunctive's use if something is untrue. This viewpoint is driven home in Spanish, where the subjunctive tense takes on great importance and its use is mandatory. It seems to be fading away in popular English (especially in street talk and pop music), and this is a shame because the subjunctive tense adds richness, depth and meaning to the English language. "I wish it were used more."

Daniel Says:
1/23/2007 12:55:21 AM

Greetings.

I think the correct terminology is still 'if I were', because the statement is known to be contrary to fact and therefore no longer possible. You can use the indicative in conditionals, but then (of course) it has to be in the correct tense. If 'if I was' is indicative then it refers to the past, not to a hypothetical present. I believe this (rather rare) type of past indicative conditional is what Dr. Grammar must have been talking about in mentioning the criterion possibility. An example would be:

If Anne was in the room when you and I were talking, then she knows what we're planning to do.

Here it's possible that Anne was in the room, but also possible that she wasn't. Since we don't know, but we're talking about a past condition, we use the past indicative, thus 'was'.

With 'was' and 'were' tell the difference between past indicative and present subjunctive. Usually, though, we can't, which can make the 'if' clause ambiguous (the 'then' clause should disambiguate it). So, for example:

If the trains weren't running...

a) ...how did you get here? (shows that 'weren't' is past indicative)

b) ...how would you get home? (shows that 'weren't' is present subjunctive)

I hope this is helpful. Thanks for the wonderful blog.

Daniel

TT Says:
1/22/2007 11:18:19 PM

But GG, Morgan *is* describing something that is contrary to fact. She says, "If I was calling my crush," but she isn't calling her crush. That's what the "if" means - she is not calling his phone number. Hence, the statement is not true (contrary to fact). That's why I agree with Miss P and believe that the correct wording is, "If I were calling my crush."

leela downton Says:
1/17/2007 7:56:27 AM

I really like this site and have learned alot from it. Do you have any spelling tips, ways to improve your spelling?

abk Says:
11/25/2006 8:19:34 PM

FYI Grwn Stefani's remake of "if I were a rich man" is "if I was a rich girl," which aligns with your point about the possible!

DPeach Says:
11/8/2006 5:59:03 PM

I had never even heard of the subjunctive (at least not consciously) until I got quite a long way into my Spanish studies. There are many things that invoke the subjunctive in Spanish, but here are just a few in a nutshell. I assume this is mostly true in English as well, but as has been stated, it only comes into play with the verb "to be."

Subjunctive is:
That which does not exist (though could), the unknown, that which we wish/desire. This is not to be confused with the future tense.
Abstracts
Intangibles
Expresses: projection, speculation, hypothesis--an illusion.

An example of the subjunctive: When Bill comes over for coffee we talk about football.

The first part, "When Bill comes over for coffee..." is subjunctive. Our actual talking about football is dependent on Bill coming over. If he does not come over, we don't talk about football.

This is something that is very possible, but yet subjunctive because it is speculation. So to see it in English, it would be: If Bill were to come over for coffee, we would talk about football.

The subjunctive is often used, but rarely seen in English. It is very much seen in Spanish though.

(I hope I don't have too many grammatical errors in this. A person really opens himself up for a fall when he comment on a grammar blog.)

ellen Says:
11/5/2006 5:42:38 PM

Dear Grammar Girl

I have a pet peeve regarding adverbs at the end of a sentence. I often hear sentences like this: Her outfit fit perfect. He sat sat down slow. He finished the test quick. Should'nt there be an ly at the end of these words? What is the rule?

Joni Says:
10/27/2006 6:43:37 PM

Thanks for this and the other grammar girl updates! The subjunctive is a difficult topic in both English and Spanish, and I think these fundamentals will be helpful to students of both languages.

Grammar Girl Says:
9/27/2006 6:04:37 AM

Hi Miss P,

Thanks for taking the time to write in!

I agree that it's a difficult call, but I did a lot of research and feel comfortable with my original statement: "So, I did some more digging, and I learned that if something is possible, then you use the indicative verb and not the subjunctive. At the end of the day, it's still kind of a judgment call. I believe that Tevye will probably never be a rich man, but that it is certainly possible that you could call your crush. So, I think the correct way to say your example is, “If I was calling my crush, I would be embarrassed.”

My reasoning, in more detail, is that Morgan is not expressing a wish, and she is not describing something that is contrary to fact. All of your examples (and all of the examples I initially found) refer to wishes or things that are either not true or not possible. For example, the basketball player will never be seven feet tall. On the other hand, it would be very easy for Morgan to call her crush, and she didn't express it as a wish, so that was where I got hung up and had to do a bunch of digging.

The Dr. Grammar page that I linked to was the only reference I found that dealt with possibilities instead of wishes or contrary statements, and it said that if something is possible then you use the indicative verb and not the subjunctive. I believe it is possible that Morgan could call her crush, and therefore I think the indicative verb is most appropriate.

GG

MissP Says:
9/26/2006 8:37:42 PM

Hello Grammar Girl!
I really enjoy your podcast and your blog.
I would like to make a comment about the post "If I Were a Flying Monkey, I Would Rule the World" on 9/15. I do not agree on leaving the statement as “If I was calling my crush, I would be embarrassed.” I believe the correct form-- because it is in a subjunctive tense is "If I WERE calling my crush, I would be embarassed".

From a quick search I found another great site that clarifies this: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/verbs.htm#mood
It states the following:
"The subjunctive mood is used in dependent clauses that do the following: 1) express a wish; 2) begin with if and express a condition that does not exist (is contrary to fact); 3) begin with as if and as though when such clauses describe a speculation or condition contrary to fact; and 4) begin with that and express a demand, requirement, request, or suggestion.

Examples:
* She wishes her boyfriend were here.
* If Juan were more aggressive, he'd be a better hockey player.
* He acted as if he were guilty."

It is important also to note the problem many people have with using the subjunctive in the verb 'to be' is that it sounds like the past tense though it grammatically correct. This is why Morgan states that it sounds incorrect, because "I wish I were" sounds like the 3rd person past tense of 'to be' and "I wish I was" sounds like is the correct verb-tense agreement though it is not. I suppose that's why the subjunctive may be difficult because it is counterintuitive.

Another citation from the same website:

"The past tense of the subjunctive has the same forms as the indicative except (unfortunately) for the verb to be, which uses were regardless of the number of the subject.

* If I were seven feet tall, I'd be a great basketball player.
* He wishes he were a better student.
* If you were rich, we wouldn't be in this mess.
* If they were faster, we could have won that race. "

Hope this is helpful,

Miss P

Grammar Girl Says:
9/21/2006 12:07:57 AM

Thanks Babe! Great post yourself, and fun blog. GG

eric babe morse Says:
9/20/2006 11:21:43 PM

Right on, sister.
Testify.
Here's my treatise on subjunctive mood:
http://subjunctivitis.blogspot.com/2005/02/joan-osborne-vs-tevye-vs-gwen-stefani.html