For the imperative in conditions, see [§ 418].

III: SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD
Forms of the Subjunctive

272. The subjunctive mood is used in certain special constructions of wish, condition, and the like.

In older English, the subjunctive forms were common in a variety of uses, as they still are in poetry and the solemn style. In ordinary prose, however, subjunctive forms are rare, and in conversation they are hardly ever heard, except in the case of the copula be.

The subjunctive forms of be are the following:—

Subjunctive Mood
Present Tense
SINGULARPLURAL
1. If I be.1. If we be.
2. If thou be.2. If you be.
3. If he be.3. If they be.
Past Tense
SINGULARPLURAL
1. If I were.1. If we were.
2. If thou wert.2. If you were.
3. If he were.3. If they were.
Perfect (or Present Perfect) Tense
SINGULARPLURAL
1. If I have been.1. If we have been.
2. If thou have been.2. If you have been.
3. If he have been.3. If they have been.
Pluperfect (or Past Perfect) Tense
SINGULARPLURAL
1. If I had been.1. If we had been.
2. If thou hadst been.2. If you had been.
3. If he had been.3. If they had been.

If is used in the paradigm because it is in clauses beginning with if that the subjunctive is commonest in modern English; but if is of course no part of the subjunctive inflection.

273. In other verbs, the subjunctive active has the same forms as the indicative, except in the second and third persons singular of the present and the perfect, which are like the first person:—

PresentPerfect
1. If I strike.1. If I have struck.
2. If thou strike.2. If thou have struck.
3. If he strike.3. If he have struck.