On the contrary, each construction has had its own line of development from more tangible and literal forms of thought to more vague and ideal and by this process the mood used came to have in each case a special meaning, which was afterwards habitually associated with it in that construction. It must not be supposed, however, that in any given construction either the subjunctive or the optative was deliberately used because it denoted conception or possibility. The uses of the subjunctive may all be classed under the general ideas of will or desire and of action vividly conceived and the uses of the optative under the general ideas of wish and of action vaguely conceived. (See details in § 168 - § 169.)Įach mood has two general classes or ranges of meaning. The optative was formed by iē-, ī-, with the present stem ( sim, duim) or the perfect ( dīxerim).

Of these, the subjunctive appears with two sets of terminations, -ā-m, -ā-s, in the present tense ( moneam, dīcam), and -ē-m, -ē-s, in the present ( amem) or other tenses ( essem, dīxissem). The parent language had, besides the imperative mood, two or more forms with modal signification. b, and notice the want of a Future Subjunctive). b) and the moods sometimes express time (compare Subjunctive in Future Conditions, § 516. Thus the tenses sometimes have modal significations (compare Indicative in Apodosis, § 517. There is no difference in origin between mood and tense and hence the uses of mood and tense frequently cross each other. The syntax of the verb relates chiefly to the use of the moods (which express the manner in which the action is conceived) and the tenses (which express the time of the action).

Indicative verb moods