Mood

Every verb phrase has a mood and an aspect, and most also have a tense. Mood is the form of the verb that shows how the speaker presents the clause: as a fact, as something unreal or required, or as a command. English has three moods.

Look at the verb be in the table: is, were, be and Be. It is one verb, and the mood changes its form. The base form be serves two moods: with its own subject inside a that clause it is subjunctive, and with no subject it gives a command. Most other verbs change less than be, so you also read the mood from the clause around the verb.

The indicative is the ordinary mood. It states or asks about things that are real or possible: Diego works at a bank. Did Nina call you? Most verb phrases you read are indicative, including these three groups:

• Every form on the chart. The twelve forms on the Tense & Aspect Chart are indicative when they state or ask something real: has called, was raining, will have arrived.
• Modal verb phrases. You can sit here. See Modal verbs and mood below.
• Real conditions. An if clause about something that may happen: If the bus is late, we will take a taxi. Both verb phrases are indicative.

The subjunctive presents something as unreal, wished for or required. Traditional grammar defines it by these uses. The app follows that definition, but it labels a verb phrase subjunctive only when one of the four cues below is present. So a few traditional examples are filed differently (see where other grammars say otherwise).

Spanish uses the subjunctive much more than English. Many Spanish subjunctives become an English infinitive or an English indicative. Only some stay subjunctive:

So do not look for an English subjunctive wherever Spanish has one. English keeps it mainly for unreal if and wish clauses and for demands. Three common mistakes come from copying the Spanish:

• After want and tell, use an object and a to-infinitive. Say I want you to come, not ✗ I want that you come.
• After when or before about the future, use the simple present. Say Call me when you arrive, not ✗ when you will arrive (more on the Tense page).
• Ojalá can be hope or wish. Use hope for something that may happen: say I hope you have a good trip, not ✗ I wish you have a good trip. Use wish for something unreal: I wish Marta were here. Wish + a person + a noun is also correct: I wish you a good trip.

The imperative gives a command or makes a request. It uses the base form of the verb, usually with no subject: Open your books. The subject is you, the person spoken to, but English does not say it. Four words often come with a command:

• Don’t makes it negative: Don’t forget your umbrella.
• Do makes it stronger or friendlier: Do take a seat.
• Let’s includes the speaker: Let’s start the lesson. The verb phrase is Let; start the lesson is an infinitive phrase without to, a bare infinitive.
• Please makes it polite and changes nothing else: Please wait outside.

A command can also say its subject, you or a word such as everyone or nobody: You be careful! Everyone sit down! A command can also be quoted inside another sentence: in The coach yelled, “Run faster!”, the verb Run is imperative. The Roles exercise and the diagram still treat a quoted command as an infinitive phrase, and the Verbal filter lists it under Infinitive; only the Mood filter reads it as a command.

The sentence type says what the whole sentence does: it states, asks, commands or exclaims. Mood says which form each verb phrase has. So the imperative sentence is a sentence type, and the imperative is a mood of the verb. The two often agree, but not always.

Could you close the door? is a request, but it has the form of a question, so its verb phrase is indicative. The Practice Lab has a filter for each idea, Sentence type and Mood, and both offer Imperative:

• They agree on a command that ends in a period or an exclamation mark, with or without a subject. Everyone sit down! and You be careful! are imperative sentences with imperative verbs.
• They differ on a quoted command. Sentence type: Imperative leaves out The coach yelled, “Run faster!”, because the whole sentence is a statement, but Mood: Imperative finds it. To find every command, use Mood.

Modal verbs such as can, could, may, must and should add ability, possibility, permission or obligation. This meaning is called modality. Some grammars call it mood, but in this app modality is not one of the three moods. A modal verb phrase takes the mood of its clause:

• In a statement or a question it is indicative: Students must wear a uniform. Could you close the door?
• Inside a wish or if only clause it is subjunctive: Valentina wishes she could swim. In other clauses, even an unreal if or as if clause, it is indicative.

Either way, a modal verb phrase has an aspect but no tense: Marta might have missed the bus is perfect, with no tense. The modals will and shall are different: the app reads will + verb as the future tense.

The same rule covers would in the clause beside an unreal condition. In If we had a garden, we would grow tomatoes, only had is subjunctive. The other verb phrase, would grow, is modal: indicative, with no tense. Spanish grammar calls cultivaríamos the condicional, and some English books speak of a conditional mood. This app has no such mood.