The Subjunctive: Is It Dead? And How Do I Use It?

Taylor Swift’s documentary “Miss Americana” was a beautiful work of art that I LOVED—except for one scene. While discussing the lyrics for her song “The Man,” she has a moment of doubt about the chorus: “If I was a man . . . If I were a man? . . . If I was a man.” When she decided on that last phrase (choosing “was” over “were”) I shouted at the TV, “No, Taylor! Don’t kill the subjunctive!”

Alas, Taylor Swift is only one of many people who choose to ignore the subjunctive grammatical mood. In fact, some experts are saying that the subjunctive is completely dead and obsolete! But they’ve been saying that for literally hundreds of years and it’s not really the case. Before I get too ahead of myself, we need to address the elephant in the room: grammatical moods.

Hold up…Grammar Has MOODS?

Pause. Rewind. WHAT? Grammar has MOODS? Yes! However, they’re not like emotional moods (commas don’t get angry and verbs don’t have existential crises…probably). Grammatical moods describe how we use verbs to communicate intention, attitude, and desire. The mood that is used can show you whether the author actually believes what they’re saying is true or just wishes it were so. You can tell by the grammatical mood whether an author knows something to be fact or is asking whether it is true. I promise it’s simpler than it sounds—here’s an overview of some of the most common grammatical moods:

• The indicative mood communicates information and facts. We use this one all the time for simple statements of fact.
  • I am going to the store. It is raining outside. She walked her dog yesterday. My friend thinks you’re cute.
• The interrogative mood is sometimes lumped in with the indicative, but it can also be considered its own separate thing. As you probably guessed from this mood’s name, it’s all about questions.
  • Are you going to the concert? Have you finished your essay? Is that dog wearing a sombrero?
• The imperative mood is used for giving commands. If you’re in a particularly bossy mood, you’ll probably use this one a lot.
  • Don’t touch that! Wash the dishes. Don’t forget to finish your report.

And now we come to our tricky friend, the subjunctive:

• The subjunctive mood is all about the hypothetical situation. It can include demands, wishes, hopes, suggestions, and other phrases that indicate something contrary to what actually is or may be the case. Whereas the indicative mood is all about facts (what DID happen?) the subjunctive is about speculation and uncertainty (what if something ELSE were to happen instead?). The subjunctive describes an action or thing that might be imaginary, desired, in question, or otherwise not what is actually reality.

There are a couple of distinct uses for the subjunctive mood: The first is all about demands, suggestions, and advice. The second deals with wishes and desires.

Using the Subjunctive for Demands and Suggestions

The subjunctive is used to communicate a request or demand following the word “that.” For demands like this, you will use the present, base form of a verb.

CORRECT: His teacher insisted that he arrive on time for class.

INCORRECT: His teacher insisted that he arrives on time for class. (This could be correct if he had been sent to the principal’s office for tardiness by Mr. Smith but Mrs. Jones came to his rescue and insisted that he was actually prompt. But in the case of Mrs. Jones demanding that he stop being late to English 101, we’ll need the subjunctive because his being on time is currently a hypothetical situation.)

In the indicative form, “he arrives” is correct. But we’ll use the present, base form of the verb to create the subjunctive, which in this case is “arrive.”

CORRECT: My boss requested that I be present for the meeting.

In the indicative form, we would conjugate “be” to “am” when it’s paired with “I” (“I am tired” is correct; “I be tired” sounds like a pirate). But we need that base form for the subjunctive, which is “be.”

Here are some more examples of the subjunctive being used for demands and suggestions:

CORRECT: We begged that he stop prank-calling our neighbors.

CORRECT: The committee recommends that the company be dissolved next year.

CORRECT: My dog requested that I give him many treats.

Using the Subjunctive for Desires and Hypothetical Situations

The subjunctive can be used to describe desires, uncertainty, or hypothetical situations. Most of the time, this will consist of the subject (I, he, she, it, etc.) paired with the past-tense verb “were.”

CORRECT: If I were wealthy, I would travel the world with my dogs.

CORRECT: If he were to go to the zoo, he might let the lions loose.

Notice the difference between these two sentence:

INDICATIVE: If he is late, he will be fired.

SUBJUNCTIVE: If he were late, he would be fired.

The first sentence has a more aggressive, final tone. It sounds like he has been late before and the supervisor is making a threatening statement about something they expect to happen. The possibility that he will be late seems less hypothetical and more inevitable. The second (subjunctive) sentence communicates more uncertainty; we don’t assume that he was late before, just that this job apparently has a very strict punctuality policy.

You can also use the subjunctive in the past tense, which often involves the phrase “had been.”

CORRECT: If Julia had been there, we would have won the soccer match.

CORRECT: If you had gone to the store, we would have had bananas today.

Note the differences between these two sentences:

IMPERATIVE: If Jane came in, she forgot to pick up her name tag.

SUBJUNCTIVE: If Jane had come in, she would have picked up her name tag.

The top sentence is not focused on the uncertainty about whether Jane had come in or not; It merely states the fact that Jane’s name tag was not picked up, whether that’s because Jane didn’t come in or because she forgot it. The second sentence puts more emphasis on the uncertainty; the author communicates that they believe Jane had NOT come in because they are presenting her having come in as a hypothetical situation.

Both sentences could be correct in the right context, but they communicate different things. They change the MOOD of the text (hence why the imperative and subjunctive are called grammatical moods—oh yeah, it’s all coming together).

Common Mistakes With the Subjunctive

Common Mistake #1: Using an indicative verb form instead of the subjunctive in a hypothetical situation

INCORRECT: If Gerald wasn’t so rude, I would invite him to the party.

CORRECT: If Gerald weren’t so rude, I would invite him to the party.

The fact of the matter is that Gerald IS rude, so a situation wherein he were NOT rude is hypothetical and merely desirable rather than fact. Thus the subjunctive is correct.

Common Mistake #2: Using the subjunctive when a statement is actually indicative

INCORRECT: I asked whether Gracy were going to the store later.

CORRECT: I asked whether Gracy was going to the store later.

Gracy going to the store is not a hypothetical situation: Either she is or isn’t going, and she knows which one it is. Just because I don’t know the answer doesn’t mean it’s hypothetical.

It could become hypothetical if Gracy never did go to the store and I were bemoaning the fact because we were out of bananas: “If only there were a banana in the kitchen…but alas, Gracy never went to the store.” In this situation, there is no banana in the kitchen, so a situation where there WERE a banana becomes hypothetical since it is contrary to the fact.

If you don’t know whether a situation is fact or fiction, you should use the indicative mood. Only use the subjunctive if you know the situation you are talking about is contrary to fact.

INCORRECT: If Clarissa be riding the bull at the rodeo, her mother is going to be very upset. (In this situation, I don’t know whether Clarissa was riding the bull or not; therefore, I cannot say for certain that it is contrary to what actually happened, so it’s not hypothetical and I won’t use the subjunctive.)

CORRECT: If Clarissa is riding the bull at the rodeo, her mother is going to be very upset.

Now you’re ready to confidently use the subjunctive in your own writing! And don’t worry about all those folks saying that the subjunctive is dead—maybe it could happen in the future, but that day is not here yet. You know that scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail where they’re taking away the dead victims of the plague? I would compare the subjunctive to that one villager who is brought out but then wakes up and says, “I’m not dead!” (It didn’t end well for that villager, though—I’m hoping that’s not an ill omen for the subjunctive.)

Just for fun, here are a few more musicians who either did or didn’t use the subjunctive appropriately in some of their songs:

Gwen Stefani: “If I was a rich girl, na na na na na na na na . . . “—INCORRECT (The original song from Fiddler on the Roof—”If I Were a Rich Man”—DOES use the subjunctive correctly, however.)

Beyoncé: “If I were a boy”—CORRECT

Meghan Trainor: “If I was you, I’d wanna be me too”—INCORRECT

Justin Bieber: “If I was your boyfriend, I’d never let you go”—INCORRECT

Sources:

• Ebbitt, D. R., and W. R. Ebbitt. Index to English. 8th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.

• The Chicago Manual of Style. 17th ed. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2017.

• American Psychological Association. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 7th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2020.

• Einsohn, Amy. The copyeditor’s handbook. 3rd ed. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: Univ of California Pr, 2011.