Subjunctive mood

The subjunctive (also known as the conjunctive in some languages) is a grammatical mood—a feature of an utterance that indicates the speaker's attitude toward it. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality, such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, obligation, or action that has not yet occurred. The precise situations in which they are used vary from language to language. The subjunctive is one of the irrealis moods, which refer to what is not necessarily real. It is often contrasted with the indicative, a realis mood which principally indicates that something is a statement of fact.

In Modern English, subjunctive forms usually employ the bare form of the verb in the present subjunctive (with the third person singular lacking the -s ending), or the use of were instead of was in past subjunctive constructions.

Subjunctives occur most often, although not exclusively, in subordinate clauses—particularly that-clauses. Examples of the subjunctive in English are found in the sentences "I suggest that you be careful" and "It is important that she stay by your side."