Mood of the verb

Mood relates to the verbal actions as certainty, obligation, necessity and possibility. Modality refers to the attitude of the speaker toward the action or state and mood is the inflectional expression of modality. Mood is distinct from tense or aspect, although the same word patterns are used. We distinguish indicative, imperative, conditional and subjunctive.

Indicative mood

A form of clause mood which expresses the factual meaning of stating or questioning. It is the most frequent form and involves all choices of verb forms - person, tense, number, aspect, modality and voice. (stating: It is a nice day. Questioning: Are we going out?)

Imperative mood

The imperative is used for the 2nd person singular/plural. This non-factual mood is used to issue directives, commands, orders, instructions and signalises prohibition and permission. It involves bare infinitive, typically with no subject. (Sign here, please.)

Imperatives occasionally occur with an emphatic subject pronoun you. It is used to make imperative stronger. (Don’t you dare to eat it!) An indefinite subject such as someone, no one, everyone may occur in informal language. (Everyone, keep quiet!) We can also use imperatives with question tags (Come in, will you?) Double imperatives are joined by "and" (Come and play with us - not! come to play).

Imperatives with do-auxiliary are perceived as more polite and more emphatic than bare imperatives. (Do have another cup of coffee.) Imperative with let forms imperatives of first person plural and third person. (Let him wait. Let me explain)  Let’s is used for first person plural imperatives, in formal form ‘let us’ is used with the meaning "allow to". (Let us to = allow us to go.)

1. Direct commands, requests (Follow me. Shut the door, please.)

2. Warnings (Look out!)

3. Directions (Turn left.)

4. Instructions (Use a moderate oven.)

5. Prohibitions (Do not feed the animals!)

6. Advice (Never speak to strangers.)

7. Invitations and offers (Come and have dinner with us. Have a biscuit.)

Conditional mood

Conditional sentences express the unreal condition either in the present or past. They are constructed with the if-clause and the principal clause.

Present Conditional expresses the unreal condition in the present.

If I had a million dollars, I would move to Japan. (Kdybych jen měl milion dolarů, přestěhovala bych se do Japonska - but I don't have that much money in the present.)

Past Conditional expresses the unreal condition in the past.

If I had known about the exam, I would have studied the night before. (Kdybych jen býval věděla, o té zkoušce, tak bych byla bývala studovala. = but I didn't know so I didn't study.)

As a special usage, would is used for polite requests (I would be very grateful if you would contact me.) and should with the actions, though possible, not very likely (Should you have any difficulties, contact me.)

Subjunctive mood

The subjunctive mood is a non-factual mood that is very rare in English and occurs only in formal styles. It is used after a very limited number of verbs, occasionally after the conditional IF. and also after expressions of necessity (it is important/essential that...).

It involves base form of the verb with no inflections. Subjunctive has no –s in third person singular present time reference and WERE is used for all persons.

Present subjunctive

1. Used in THAT formal clauses (It is necessary that she do it herself. It is recommended that they inform us about it right away. It is crucial that a car be waiting for the boss.)

2. In certain formulas (God save the Queen. So be it.)

Past subjunctive

1. To express a wish that cannot be fulfilled. (I wish I were not here.)

2. Advice (If I were you, I would definitely take that opportunity.)

3. Hypothetical conditional meaning (If it were not for you, I'd never finish it.)