The subjunctive was used far more in older varieties of English. Unlike the indicative used to mark factual certainty, the subjunctive tends to express wishes, commands, conditions, indirect (reported) speech and factual uncertainty.
The Present Indicative vs Subjunctive
indicative subjunctive indicative subj.
ic -e sing-e lufi-e
-e sing-e lufi-e
eom/bēo
þū -est/ast sing-est luf-ast eart/bist sīe
hē/hēo
/hit -eþ/aþ sing-eþ luf-aþ is/biþ
wē
-eþ/aþ sing-eþ lufi-aþ -en sing-en lufi-en sind(on)
/bēoþ sīen gē
hīe
• In wishes and prayers (=let, may):
God þē sīe milde. ‘May God be merciful to you.’
• In commands (= don’t let):
Ne hē ealu ne drince nǣfre oþþe wīn. ‘Don’t let him ever drink ale or wine.’
• In conditional and concessive clauses, e.g. with gif ‘if’, būtan ‘unless’, þēah (þe) ‘though’:
Gif þū Godes sunu sīe, cweþ þæt þās stānas tō hlāfum geweorðan.
‘If you are (be) God’s son, tell these stones to become loaves.’
See another example in grey in the longer passage below (‘Ac gif þū wille …’).
• In indirect narratives and indirect questions:
Þā cwæð se ealdormann and se dēma him tō: “Saga mē hwelces hīredes and hwelces cynnes þū sīe.”
‘Then the nobleman and the judge said to him: “Tell me of what household and what people you are (=might be).”’
And þā andswarode him Albanus: “Hwæt limpeþ þæs tō þē of hwelcum wyrtruman ic ācenned sīe?
‘And then Alban answered him: “What does is it matter to you of what roots I was (=might be) born?
Ac gif þū wille gehīeran þæt sōþ mīnre ǣfestnesse, þonne wite þū mē crīsten bēon, and ic crīstnum þegnungum þēowian wille.”
‘But if you (should) wish to hear the truth of my piety, then you will (should) know me to be a Christian, and that I (should) wish to serve the ministry.”’
Þā cwæð hē se dēma, ierre geworden: “Gesaga mē þinne naman, hwæt þū hāten sīe.”
‘Then he said to the judge, having got angry: “Tell me your name, what you are (=might be) called.”’
There are more categories and examples in Sweet (1905: 47-50).
The Past Indicative vs Subjunctive
indicative subjunctive indic. subj.
ic -(e) sang lufode
-e sunge lufode
wæs
wǣre
þū -e(st) sunge lufodest wǣre
hē/hēo
/hit -(e) sang lufode wæs
wē
-on sungon lufodon -en sungen lufoden wǣron wǣren gē
hīe
• In indirect narratives and indirect questions:
Hit wæs gewitegod þæt hē on þǣre byrig Bethleem ācenned wurde.
‘It was prophesied that he would be born in the town of Bethlehem.’
Þā frægn Gregorius hwæt hātte sēo mǣgþ þe þā cnihtas hider of Iǣdde wǣron. Þā andswarode him man and cwæþ þæt hīe Dēre nemnde wǣren.
‘Then (Pope) Gregory asked what the people were called from whom the young men had been brought here. Then they answered him and said that they were called Deiri.’
[…] Þā gīet hē āscode hwæt hiera cyning hāten wǣre; and him man andswarode and cwæþ þætte hē Æll hāten wǣre.
‘Then he asked further what their king was (=might be) called; and they answered him and said that he was called Ælle.’
• In conditional and concessive clauses, e.g. with gif ‘if’, būtan ‘unless’, þēah (þe) ‘though’:
Þā on þǣre unstillnesse onsendon hīe ǣrendwrecan tō Rōme mid gewritum: him fultumes bǣdon,
gif hīe him gefultumeden þæt hīe meahten hiera fīend oferwinnan.
‘Then due to the agitation they sent a messenger to Rome with a letter asking them for help, if they might help them so that they might overcome their enemy.’
Sēo ān inne āwunode, þēah þe hēo swīðe forht wǣre and bifiende.
‘She remained alone inside, though she was very afraid and trembling.’
Middle English
The Present Indicative vs Subjunctive
indicative subjunctive indicative subj.
I, ich -(e) sing(e) luve
-e singe luve
am
thou -est singest luvest art be
he/she/
(h)it -eth singeth luveth is/
be(o)th
we -eth/
-en singen luveth/
luven -e(n) singe(n) luve(n) are(n)/
be(o)th/
be(e)n be(n) ye
they
• In conditional clauses:
And he falle, he hath non helpe to rise. ‘If he should fall, he would have no help to get up.’
The Past Indicative vs Subjunctive
indicative subjunctive indic. subj.
I, ich -(e) song/sang luved(e)
-e sunge luvede
was
were
thou -e(st) sunge luvedest was(t)
he/she/
(h)it -(e) song/sang luved(e) was
we
-e(n) sunge(n) luved(en) -e(n) sunge(n) luved(en) were(n) were(n) ye
they
• Conditional (here to express a result or consequence):
Wel koude she carie a morsel and wel kepe,
‘She well knew how to carry a morsel (to her mouth) and take good care,’
Thát no drope ne fille upon hire breste;
‘So that no drop would fall (fell) upon her breast.’
• In conditional clauses, e.g. with if:
She wolde wepe if that she saugh a mous
‘She would weep, if she saw a mouse’
Kaught in a trappe, if it were deed or bledde.
‘Caught in a trap, if it were dead or bled.’
Early Modern English
The Present Indicative vs Subjunctive
indicative subjunctive indicative subjunctive
I Ø find
Ø find
am
be
thou -(e)st findest art
he/she/it -(e)s/
-(e)th finds/
findeth is
we
Ø find are
you they
• In conditional clauses, e.g. with if:
If she be fair, 'tis the better for her; an she be not, ‘If she is fair […]; [and] if she isn’t […]’
she has the mends in her own hands.
The Past Indicative vs Subjunctive
indicative subjunctive indicative subjunctive
I Ø found
Ø found
was
were
thou -(e)st foundest were
he/she/it Ø found was
we
Ø found
were were were you
they
• In conditional clauses, e.g. with if or an ‘if not, unless’:
Because she's kin to me, therefore she's not so fair as Helen;
an she were not kin to me, ‘[…] [and] if she weren’t kin to me […]’
she would be as fair on Friday as Helen is on Sunday, but what care I?
I care not an she were a blackamoor; ‘[…] I wouldn’t care whether she were […]’
'tis all one to me.
Early Modern English Exercises
Read lines 49-85 of Act I Scene I of Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida below. There are notes in the margin of this online version to help you with some of the vocabulary:
http://www.shakespeareswords.com/Troilus-and-Cressida. Alternatively use Crystal & Crystal’s online glossary of Shakespearean English: http://www.shakespeareswords.com/Glossary
Listen to this scene on the following website and download the two supporting documents (a version with partially phonetic transcription and accompanying notes):
http://www.pronouncingshakespeare.com/op-recordings
Then work in pairs and answer the study questions below the text.
TROILUS
TC I.i.49 O Pandarus! I tell thee, Pandarus –
TC I.i.50 When I do tell thee, there my hopes lie drowned, TC I.i.51 Reply not in how many fathoms deep
TC I.i.52 They lie indrenched. I tell thee I am mad TC I.i.53 In Cressid's love: thou answer'st ‘ She is fair,’
TC I.i.54 Pour'st in the open ulcer of my heart
TC I.i.55 Her eyes, her hair, her cheek, her gait, her voice;
TC I.i.56 Handlest in thy discourse, O, that her hand, TC I.i.57 In whose comparison all whites are ink
TC I.i.58 Writing their own reproach; to whose soft seizure TC I.i.59 The cygnet's down is harsh, and spirit of sense TC I.i.60 Hard as the palm of ploughman! This thou tell'st me, TC I.i.61 As ‘ true ’ thou tell'st me, when I say I love her;
TC I.i.62 But, saying thus, instead of oil and balm,
TC I.i.63 Thou lay'st in every gash that love hath given me TC I.i.64 The knife that made it.
PANDARUS
TC I.i.65 I speak no more than truth.
TROILUS
TC I.i.66 Thou dost not speak so much.
PANDARUS
TC I.i.67 Faith, I'll not meddle in't. Let her be as she
TC I.i.68 is: if she be fair, 'tis the better for her; an she be not, TC I.i.69 she has the mends in her own hands.
TROILUS
TC I.i.70 Good Pandarus – how now, Pandarus?
PANDARUS
TC I.i.71 I have had my labour for my travail,
TC I.i.72 ill-thought-on of her, and ill-thought-on of you; gone TC I.i.73 between and between, but small thanks for my labour.
TROILUS
TC I.i.74 What, art thou angry, Pandarus? What, with TC I.i.75 me?
PANDARUS
TC I.i.76 Because she's kin to me, therefore she's not
TC I.i.77 so fair as Helen; an she were not kin to me, she would
TC I.i.78 be as fair on Friday as Helen is on Sunday, but what TC I.i.79 care I? I care not an she were a blackamoor; 'tis all one TC I.i.80 to me.
TROILUS
TC I.i.81 Say I she is not fair?
PANDARUS
TC I.i.82 I do not care whether you do or no. She's a
TC I.i.83 fool to stay behind her father; let her to the Greeks, TC I.i.84 and so I'll tell her the next time I see her. For my part, TC I.i.85 I'll meddle nor make no more i'th' matter.
Study Questions
1. Find all examples of the second person pronouns (subject, object and possessive forms). How can you account for the variation in this text. (The following webpage should help you with your analysis: http://www.shakespeareswords.com/thou-and-you.)
2. What verb inflections accompany the second person pronouns? Find examples in the text.
3. What verb inflections are found in the third person singular? Can you account for any of the differences? Provide some examples from the text.
4. Find examples where the auxiliary verb “do” is used. Do they tally with Modern English? To answer this also check whether “do” is used where you would expect it in the text.
5. Look for examples of ‘an’, that are not the indefinite article. What do they mean and what part of speech are they?
6. Find examples of word order that differ from Modern English. Can you explain them in each case?
7. How have these words changed in meaning in Shakespeare’s time from when they first appeared/entered English and how has the meaning changed since Shakespeare’s day? In both cases, try to categorise the type of change in meaning that has taken place (cf. my lecture notes for the first class).
seizure (line 58), fair (68, 77-78, 81)
8. Listen to the text and determine which of the following differ from modern Received Pronunciation. Where there are differences, how are they different (use phonetic symbols)?
Long pure vowels: /iː/, /uː/
Short vowels: /æ/, /e/
Diphthongs: /aɪ/, /eɪ/, /əʊ/
Consonants: /r/, /w/
9. Which of the above sound changes belong to the Great Vowel Shift (cf. Crystal 2003: 55)?
How far had the changes gone if one compares Shakespeare’s day with Chaucer’s day?
10. Compare the version above with normalised spelling with the printed edition on the next page. What general similarities and differences can you observe in orthography and typeface between the different versions?