The term 'mood' doesn't always relate to feelings in the English language. This article is about grammatical moods - the use of different verbs and verb forms to help create the primary purpose of a sentence.
This article will explain what grammatical moods are, list the five main grammatical moods, and provide plenty of examples of each grammatical mood.
Grammatical mood: definition
The term grammatical mood refers to the use of verbs and different verb forms to indicate (show) the purpose of a sentence. There are five main grammatical moods in the English language: indicative mood, interrogative mood, imperative mood, conditional mood, and subjunctive mood. The grammatical mood of a sentence is defined according to its purpose.
The use of verbs can show whether the sentence intends to express a fact (indicative mood), a wish (subjunctive mood), a command (imperative mood), a condition (conditional mood), or ask a question (interrogative mood).
We can adapt verbs to show the grammatical mood with the help of inflections (a change in the word form, e.g. adding '-s' or '-ed') and auxiliary verbs (these are helping verbs, e.g. did, has, was, were, is).
'Did you finish your homework? '
- This sentence is in the interrogative mood as it is asking a question. The use of the auxiliary verb 'did' helps to form the question and the interrogative mood.
'If I were rich, I'd buy a Ferrari.'
- This sentence is in the subjunctive mood as it expresses a hypothetical wish. The use of the auxiliary verb 'were' rather than 'was' shows that this sentence is in the subjunctive mood.
Hypothetical means a situation or idea that is made-up or potentially possible, rather than a real situation or idea.
Sentence moods and grammatical moods generally refer to the same concept in English grammar. Both terms describe the different ways in which a sentence can express the speaker's attitude or intention, such as making a statement, giving a command, or expressing a hypothetical situation.
Grammatical mood: list
There are five main grammatical moods in English - indicative mood, interrogative mood, imperative mood, conditional mood, and subjunctive mood. Let's take a look at each one in detail with some examples.
There are more than five grammatical moods in language; however, you don't have to learn them all now. We have decided to show you only the five main ones today!
The indicative mood
The indicative mood is used when the speaker wishes to express something they believe to be true, such as a factual statement, an opinion, or a fact-checking question. Because of this, we typically use the indicative mood when making declarative sentences. For example, 'He will be back later' is a declarative sentence that is spoken in an indicative mood.
When forming the indicative mood, we can use any tense.
The indicative mood examples
Here are some different examples of sentences which use the indicative mood. The verbs that help establish the mood of the sentences have been highlighted in bold.
Paris is the capital of France.
He was at the park yesterday.
He will be there tomorrow.
They are coming to Spain, right?
The imperative mood
The imperative mood is used for expressing commands and instructions. The imperative mood shows that the speaker wants something to happen or someone else to do something. We typically use the imperative mood when forming imperative sentences, e.g. 'sit down!'.
To form the imperative mood, we use the verb's infinitive form without the word 'to'. For example, the infinitive verb 'to sit' becomes 'sit'. For negative commands, we use the verb's infinitive form without 'to' plus the words 'do not (don't)', e.g. 'Do not sit down!'.
The imperative mood examples
Here are some different examples of sentences which use the imperative mood. The verbs that help establish the mood of the sentences have been highlighted in bold.
Take your jacket off.
Don't talk back to me.
Pass me the remote, please.
Don't forget the tickets!
Fig. 1 - Teacher using the imperative mood.
The interrogative mood
The interrogative mood is used for asking questions. We use the interrogative mood when forming interrogative sentences (i.e. questions). To create a question, we need to use an auxiliary verb (helping verb), such as did, is, do, and are, often alongside another main verb.
The interrogative mood examples
Here are some different examples of sentences which use the interrogative mood. The verbs that help establish the mood of the sentences have been highlighted in bold.
Do you have the gift?
Are you sure?
Where is she?
What did you buy?
The subjunctive mood
The subjunctive mood is a little trickier than the others as it is used for a few different reasons. We use the subjunctive mood to discuss hypothetical situations, express wishes, give a demand or suggestion, and explore conditional situations.
The subjunctive and conditional moods can easily be confused as they can both be used to explore conditional situations. The main difference is that conditional mood is used for real-life situations, whereas the subjunctive mood is used for more hypothetical or imaginary situations.
When forming the subjunctive mood, the verb always changes. The way it changes is dependent on the sentence and its purpose.
When discussing a hypothetical situation, a wish, or a conditional, the verb will 'move back in time' one space, e.g. 'have' becomes 'had', 'walk' becomes 'walked', and 'run' becomes 'ran'.
When giving a demand or suggestion, we use the base form of the verb without the use of any inflections. e.g. 'I demand he give me a raise' and 'It's suggested she visit the castle'.
Inflections
Inflection is a type of word formation that involves adding one or more letters to a word to express different grammatical categories, such as tense, mood, and quantity. For example, in English, we often add '-s' or '-es' to a noun to show it's a plural, '-ed' to a verb to show it happened in the past, and '-s' to a verb to show it was a completed by a singular 3rd person, e.g. 'He waters the plants'.
The subjunctive mood and the verb 'to be'
The change to the verb 'to be' is one of the easiest ways to spot the subjunctive mood. When using the subjunctive mood to express a hypothetical situation, a wish, or a conditional, the verb 'to be' is always presented as 'were', even when you would usually use 'was'. For example, we would say 'I wish I were famous' not 'I wish I was famous'.
When using the subjunctive mood to give a demand or suggestion, the verb 'to be' remains as 'be' rather than 'is' 'are' or 'am'. For example, we would say 'I suggest he be early today' not 'I suggest he is early today'.
The subjunctive mood examples
Here are some different examples of sentences which use the subjunctive mood. The verbs that help establish the mood of the sentences have been highlighted in bold.
If I were rich, I would travel the world.
I wish I had a new car.
I suggest he wear something warmer.
I wish I were famous.
She requests you be there early.
The conditional mood
The conditional mood is most commonly used when the occurrence or completion of one action is dependent on another, and to express the condition under which something could happen.
For example, in the following sentence, 'If Joe had come home, he could have taken the car', Joe could have taken the car under the condition he went home.
We usually form the conditional mood with the help of modal verbs.
Modal verbs are a specific type of auxiliary (helping) verbs that express possibility, probability, permission, ability, and intentions. Some examples of modal verbs include should, would, could, may, might, can, could, and must.
It is not unusual to see sentences that utilise both the conditional and subjunctive moods.
The conditional mood examples
Here are some different examples of sentences which use the conditional mood. The verbs that help establish the mood of the sentences have been highlighted in bold.
If she had studied harder, she might have received better grades.
If you want to visit me, I will take time off work.
If she couldn't get cake, Lily would get a brownie instead.
You must sleep well if you want to have energy.
Fig. 2 - Mum using the conditional mood with a child.
Grammatical mood: examples
Now that you understand the grammatical mood and the five main moods in English let's put your new knowledge to the test!
Look at the following five sentences. Can you identify the mood of each sentence?
| Grammatical mood examples | |
| 1. Did you finish all the cake? | Interrogative mood. |
| 2. I suggest she sit down. | Subjunctive mood. |
| 3. Close the door! | Imperative mood. |
| 4. If I can't find anything to wear, I'm not going to the party. | Conditional mood. |
| 5. She's not happy today. | Indicative mood. |
Grammatical Mood - Key Takeaways
- The term grammatical mood refers to the use of verbs and different verb forms to indicate (show) the purpose of a sentence.
- There are five main grammatical moods in the English language: indicative mood, interrogative mood, imperative mood, conditional mood, and subjunctive mood.
- The indicative mood is used when the speaker wishes to express something they believe to be true, such as a factual statement, an opinion, or a fact-checking question. The imperative mood is used for commands and instructions.
- The interrogative mood is used for asking questions. The subjunctive mood is to discuss hypothetical situations, express wishes, give a demand or suggestion, and explore conditional situations.
- The conditional mood is most commonly used when the occurrence or completion of one action is dependent on another.
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