English Affinities
Philanthropy. Steady. Navy. Hollow. Chest. Theology. Epidermis. Physiology. Patriot. Atmosphere. Plethora. Podagra.
LESSON XIII
Moods: Subjunctive and Conditional
The subjunctive or conjunctive mood is the form which the verb takes when no independent assertion is made as a fact, but only as a sequence of an asserted fact or truth, and having only a secondary or conditional existence; as if I should say in English, I give you this, that it may be in your power to do so and so, the secondary sentence preceded by that is altogether dependent on the precedent thing done, I give you this. In this example the substantival proposition is in the present indicative, and the subjunctive nature of the dependent sentence is expressed by the auxiliary verb may; but, if the leading clause is in the past tense, the dependent clause is expressed by might, which in fact is the past tense of may, as I gave you this that you might. In Greek this past conditional is, from a peculiar usage, commonly called the optative mood. In the present lesson we shall confine ourselves to the dependent tense subjoined to a present or a future. The form of the subjunctive is very simple, consisting as it does in the mere change of the terminational vowel or diphthong of the present into ω and η—
| κόπτ-ω, | -ῃς, | -ῃ, | I, thou, he |  | may strike; |
| κόπτ-ωμεν, | -ητε, | -ωσι, | we, you, they |
and in the first and second aorist the same—κόπτω, ἔκοψα, κόψω,-ῃς, -ῃ.
The subjunctive mood is often introduced by ἐάν or ἤν, ἵνα, and ὅταν, and when a negative particle belongs to it, it is μή, not οὐ.
δίδωμί σοι ταύτην τὴν βίβλον ἵνα καταλαμβάνῃς
ὅσον ἐστὶ χαλεπὸν τὸ πρᾶγμα περὶ οὗ ἔγραφες,
I give you this book that you may understand
how difficult the matter is on which you were writing.
ἐὰν μὴ ἐκπονῇς τὰ διδάγματα, οὐ διδάξω σε,
if you don’t work out the lessons, I will not teach you.