Each part of speech has some of its own morphological features that characterize its grammatical properties. Knowing these distinctive features will allow you not only to use word forms correctly, but also to write them correctly. The characteristics influence, for example, the choice of suffixes for participles and gerunds and personal endings for nouns. To describe a verb, aspect (perfect and imperfect), reflexivity, transitivity, tense, number, person, gender and mood are used. The last characteristic helps to determine other unstable properties of this part of speech and makes it possible to find out whether one or another form of the verb can be formed. What are the subjunctive, imperative and indicative moods? What is their role?

Definition

First, you need to understand what inclination is. According to dictionaries, this is a grammatical category denoting the relationship of action to reality. In the Russian language there are three, as mentioned above, moods. It's a complicated formulation, isn't it? Let's try it simpler.

Each of the three moods is responsible for a specific situation. For example, to describe a possibility, an unreal, hypothetical action, the subjunctive mood is used (“I would go”, “I would read”, “I would draw”), which can be recognized by the particle “would”. In order to order something, there is an imperative mood ("tell me", "go away", "breathe"). The indicative mood of the verb allows you to report any action that occurred in the past, present and future - this is precisely the advantageous difference between this type of mood and others.

A little more theory

Let's move on to the times. As already mentioned just above, the indicative mood can exist in any tense of the Russian language, only the form of the verb will change from this ("read - read - will read", "wrote - will write"). But there is one clarification here, noticeable already in the examples: for verbs of the imperfect form, both past, present, and future tenses are available, while the perfect form forms only past and future forms. Try forming the present tense for the verb “to speak.” And make sure that you can do this only when its appearance changes. Thus, the form of the indicative mood allows you to understand what form a given verb has (easier to say, does it answer the question “what to do?” or “what to do?”).

Other moods

A useful clarification: not only the indicative mood allows us to talk about the tense of the verb. In the case of the subjunctive (by the way, it is also called conditional), everything is simple: exclusively past, formed with the help of the suffix “l” (“I would read”, “I would go”, “I would rest”, “I would knit”). Consequently, words have only number and gender, no person. The particle “would”, which serves as a kind of beacon of this type of mood, can appear both before and after the verb, and, in principle, can be found in any part of the sentence.

The indicative and imperative moods have person and number, but in the case of the latter one cannot talk about gender: for “orders” only the second person (“you/you”) is available in the singular and plural (“refuse/refuse”, “pour/pour” , "leave/leave"). By the way, there is one caveat here: using the particle “let” or “yes” you can translate any verb in the third person (“he, she, it, they”) into the imperative mood (“let him return,” “long live”).

Nuances

Sometimes it happens that the indicative mood of a verb can be used in the imperative sense. Some researchers note that we can talk about the transition of one mood to another in the case when an order is expressed that does not tolerate objections (“will you go”, “will you say”), or to indicate an incentive for joint action (“let’s start”, “let’s go” ). In the latter case, the particles “come on”/“let’s” and intonation emphasis on the verb are also used, explaining its meaning in context. Compare: “Tomorrow we will go to the mountains” and “Let’s go for a ride!” - the same word, but the shades of meaning are different.

Repetition

Now let's try to consolidate information about all types of inclination.

Subjunctive (also conditional) is a hypothetical action, a possible situation. It is formed by adding the particle “would” (“b”) to the past tense verb, has no person, changes only in numbers and gender: “would have said”, “would have drunk”, “would have thrown”.

Imperative - order or instruction. Verbs of the second person singular and plural are used, but sometimes the third person with the particle “let” is allowed: “speak”, “refuse”, “let him sing”, “long live”.

The indicative mood is a description of an event that was happening at any moment. Exists in the past, present and future tense, in all persons, numbers and genders (for imperfective verbs, for the perfect - only in the past and future tense). Under certain conditions, it can transform into other types of inclination. For repetition, we will use a table that shows all forms of the verb “read”.

Past

The present

Future

As you can see, everything is very simple. In fact, the mood of verbs is one of the simplest topics in the Russian language, so remembering all its nuances will not be difficult at all.

Mood the verb expresses the relationship of the action denoted by the verb to reality. There are three types of inclination:

1. indicative mood, which is also called “indicative”. This form means that the action has happened, is happening, or will actually happen. Verbs in the indicative mood change tenses. Moreover, for imperfective verbs, all three tenses take place: past, present and complex future.

For example: thought - I think - I will think, I did - I do - I will do, I searched - I search - I will search

And for the perfect form there are only two: the past and the simple future.

For example: I came up with - I'll come up with done - I'll do it, found it - I'll find it.

In the future and present tenses, the vowel at the end of the infinitive stem disappears in some cases.

For example: hear - hear, see - see.

2. imperative, which is also called “imperative”. This form means a request, advice, order, or encouragement to action. Verbs in the imperative mood are most often used in the 2nd person. In this case, they have a zero ending in the singular and a “-te” ending in the plural. They also do not change over time. The imperative mood is formed using a verb stem in the present or simple future tense, to which is added the suffix “-and-” or in some cases a zero suffix.

For example: Remember, you must do this! Stop doing nonsense! Watch this movie!

3. conditional or subjunctive mood, which is also called “subjunctive”. This form means that the action did not actually happen, but is only desired, planned in the future, unrealizable, or will be realized when some necessary conditions are met.

For example: I would fly into space to study distant stars. In a year I would like to go to the sea. I would read other people's thoughts. I would go for a walk if the rain stops.

Verbs in the present and future tense are not used to form the conditional mood. It is composed exclusively with the help of a past tense verb (that is, the base of the infinitive, adding the suffix “-l-”), as well as the particle “would” or “b”. These particles can be found both before and after the verb, and can also be separated from it by other words.

For example: I would go to the museum. I would love to go to the museum.

Verbs in the conditional mood change by number, and in the singular also by gender, but they never change by person and, as already stated, by tense.

For example: I would look, I would look, I would look.

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A fairly simple question, although it causes some difficulties for many. In fact, everything is much simpler than it seems at first glance.

What is this?

Before going into the rules regarding inclinations, you need to understand what they are. This is a special grammatical indication of the connection between action and reality. That is, it is not an independent part of speech, but a form of a verb that shows an action that already exists or is possible in the future.

Types and forms of verb moods

In linguistics, the following types of this category are distinguished:

  • Indicative.
  • Subjunctive.
  • Imperative.
  • Desirable mood (intermediate between subjunctive and imperative).
  • Permissible.
  • Prepositional.
  • Intentional mood (expressing intention).
  • Negative pleading (expression of a request that the action not be carried out).
  • Unreal (characteristic of Indian and Pacific languages; it characterizes an action that has almost happened).
  • Paraphrase (used in the Latvian language; exists to transform direct speech into indirect speech).

The first three of these moods will be examined in more detail, because they are the ones found in verbs in the Russian language. However, since there are a whole variety of types, in the Russian language each of the available ones has different characteristics of modality, that is, it combines several moods.

Indicative, subjunctive and imperative mood - features

The indicative mood or indicative is a category that expresses a process in any tense. This type does not have a morphological indicator; instead, tense and person morphemes of the verb are used.

Additional modal characteristics of this subtype of category are determination, readiness, threat and other intonation moments.

The imperative mood or imperative is a category responsible for expressing a request, order or encouragement to action. It is also called the incentive mood. This category does not have tense forms, but it is possible to distinguish the forms of 2nd person singular and plural and 1st person plural, that is, such a verb is combined with the pronoun “you”, “you” and “we”, respectively.

Additional modal characteristics of this subtype of category are desirability, assumption, obligation and others.

The subjunctive mood or subjunctive is a category denoting a desired, intended or possible process. This type does not have forms of time, but it varies in numbers and gender. A feature of this subtype is the presence of the particle “would”, that is, the question to the verb is not “what (to) do?”, but “what to (to) do?”. Therefore, this mood is also called conditional.

Other modal characteristics of this given subtype of category are desire, advice, regret.

Table with examples

Let us give examples for each type of verb mood in the table.

Indicative (indicative)

Subjunctive (subjunctive)

Imperative (imperative)

I am writing / wrote / will write

I would write

You are writing/wrote/will write

He/she writes/wrote/will write

He/she would write:

We are writing / have written / will write

We are writing!

You are writing / have written / will write

You write!

They write/wrote/will write

They would write

features - not available

features - no forms of time and persons

features - no forms of time, not all forms of faces

How to determine the mood of a verb?

It can be quite difficult to determine the grammatical category being described. But the table of verb moods that we bring to your attention will help you solve this problem. You need to ask questions from the first column and find the answers in the columns on the right. You can think of it as an algorithm that explains how to determine the mood of a verb.

Indicative

Subjunctive

Imperative

What does it mean

action that was, is or will be

action that could be

order, request, call to action

In what form is it used?

all forms of person, number, tense and gender

only forms of number and gender, always in the past tense

there are no forms of gender, tense, only forms of 2 l. units and many more numbers and 1 l. pl. number

Example for clarity

I am eating/ate/will eat tonight

He would eat tonight

Try it tonight!

There is another simple way. To determine the mood of a verb, you must first ask yourself the question, does the word carry an order or an impulse? Thus, the imperative will be eliminated. Next you need to find the particle “would”. If it is not there, then the subjunctive will also be removed from the possible options. In general, the indicative mood is the most frequently used among the other subtypes of the category, but sometimes it still doesn’t hurt to check.

As you can see, the topic of moods in the Russian language is far from the simplest, but not the most complex either. To correctly determine whether a verb belongs to this category, you just need to understand what meaning it carries and pay attention to the words surrounding the verb. Often this is what helps to draw the right conclusions.

The topic of verb moods is one of the simplest grammatical categories that is learned quickly and easily. Only the difficulties of the unusual and unpredictable nature of the native language can interfere. On the one hand, it seems that everything is clear, but on the other hand, when faced with a specific task, you can “fall into a stupor.”

What is the verb mood, where did it come from and why is it needed?

The term itself and the need to designate it arose in the Middle Ages. The origins of its appearance come from the Greek dictionary and Latin, where this word sounds approximately the same: enkliss and inclinatio. In Rus', the concept of mood was introduced into the structure of Slavic languages ​​by Meletius Smotritsky back in the 16th-17th centuries.

The number of types of inclinations was far from three, as is now considered the norm. Someone argued that it does not exist, and someone even identified vague, potential, invalid moods and as many more. The infinitive of the verb was considered the indefinite mood. Invalid – the use of the combination of words “almost caught”, for example. And, potential: “I won’t say that...”. In the modern grammatical encyclopedia, even the voluntary mood has been preserved. This is the use of a perfective verb in the future tense in conjunction with the particle “how”. For example: “how will it crack!” Fortunately, there are only three basic ones you need to know and understand.

The function of mood is to determine the nature of the connection of the action (its presence or absence) with a person or object. That is, this category evaluates the real connection between some action and the one who performs it, or intends to, and whether it occurs at all. To better understand the meaning of these words, we need to consider all the differences in forms and corresponding nuances.

How do the forms of verb moods differ?

To answer the question of how to determine the mood of a verb, you need to clearly know all three of its forms.

The indicative mood is not particularly complex. All you need to know is the following:

  • This mood indicates a reality that actually happened, differing over time.
  • Here's what you need to know about the perfective and imperfective: The imperfective has all tense forms, including past, present and future complex. For example, I caught – I’m catching – I’ll catch. And the perfective form only has a past with a simple future, for example, caught - will catch.
  • It is worth remembering the ability of past tense verbs to change in number, and in the singular they can change gender. Example: ran away (pl.), ran away (singular m.r.), ran away (singular w.r.), ran away (singular w.r.)
  • The suffix -l- from the past tense form should shine like a red rag in your eyes. After all, it is attached immediately to the base of the word and after it comes the generic, zero (in m.p.) or numerical ending. Example: win, win, win.

If in a verb its stem has a final consonant letter, or there is a suffix -well- or -whose-, then they are changed or deleted. For example, take out - took out, get out - got out; erect - erected - erected-l-a; lie down - lie down - lie down.

It is easy to notice this particular form of inclination by what has already actually happened, is now happening, or is planned to happen in the future for sure. It is not without reason that the word “indicative” itself has the root “reality.”

Video about verb inflections There are also a couple of nuances here:

  • The indicative mood of a verb can be confused with the imperative mood when the verb in the 1st person plural matches.
  • The endings of verbs in the indicative (I.n.) and imperative moods (P.n.) differ. In I.Sc. – the ending -ete- or –ite- in the 1st person plural depends on the conjugation, in P.n. almost always –ite-. Comparison: If you choose (1st conjugation, 2nd person) chebak, a pike or perch will bite. Choose (P.n.) this particular live bait, you won’t regret it! In the first case in I.n. The sentence must contain a condition under which the action must take place. Conjugation is taken into account, but in the second case it is not.

As an example, a small text will be given.

An excerpt from a series of stories about the worm Pashka

The text uses past tense verbs. This is a verb of the perfect form: it came, it turned out, it hovered, it hit, it didn’t know, it shrank, it got fat, it didn’t chew, it was put down, it buzzed, it hit; and imperfect form - did not chew.

The main sign of the past tense is the suffix -l-. This needs to be nailed down on the nose.

Present tense verbs of the imperfect form: punches, doesn’t suspect, waits, doesn’t want, enjoys, hurts. Here the sign will be the ending -et of the 3rd person singular. (The endings are also placed according to the conjugation).

The future tense denotes the words: will fish (future complex), appear and explore (future simple).

In the context of the last sentence, the phrase “we are exploring the place” will speak specifically about the indicative mood, although the meaning may seem that it is imperative. You should be careful here, since this is a statement of the fact of the future, and not an incentive to fight.

How not to make a mistake when detecting the conditional mood?

Firstly, the name itself - the conditional mood of the verb speaks of some obligatory condition under which something should happen, but this has not happened yet, or about the desire for something to happen. Secondly, it is often referred to as the subjunctive mood of the verb. And thirdly, the main point here will be the past tense verb with the particle would or b, which is always written separately with verbs. It can appear anywhere in a sentence. Verbs in this mood can only change in number and gender in the singular, however, like a regular past tense verb.

Let's consider an example with different locations of used particles:

...while Pashka was lying in a box on the refrigerator shelf, he kept dreaming: “If I were strong, I would tear this container and run away with my friends! Eh! I wish I could tear these holes in the lid and run away!” the worm thought sadly, “I should come up with some kind of good plan to escape from here!”

How to distinguish the imperative mood from the rest?

The imperative mood of a verb can express motivating emotions such as an order, a request, prohibition, advice, suggestion or command. He has no time at all. Here the forms of the imperative mood of verbs depend on person, number and demonstrative words.

  • In the first person, a proposal is usually made to do something together, and it can begin with the word “let’s.”
  • In the second person singular, the main role is played by the 0 suffix or -i-. In the plural, the ending -te is added to the verb.
  • In the third, the words “let, yes, let” are often found in combination with a future tense verb.

It is important to distinguish one nuance: the forms of the 2nd person plural look like this:

Imperative mood: choose, place

Indicative: choose (I reference), lay (II reference)

Using the same story as an example, let’s look at how this looks in practice:

… “Let’s make an escape!” - Pashka’s friend the worm Chatterbox shouted. "No need! Don't run while we're in the cold! It must be warm around to smell the native land!” - but no one heard him, because panic began. One tore a hole in the lid, the other jumped out and fell on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. Everyone was cold and scared, but everyone was ready to run: they crawled closer to the lid. But then Zakharych remembered them and took the jar to the garden, not suspecting that the worms were not as simple as they seemed. And this was their happiness. "Forward! Let’s crawl to freedom!” Pashka squealed, “Don’t forget me!” Grandfather was annoyed, having lost 50 well-fed worms, but there was no trace of Pashka and his family.

Do you remember the moods of verbs in Russian? Did this article help you refresh your memory or learn something new? Share your opinion on

Verb mood

A verbal category expressing the relation of an action (state) to reality, established by the speaker, i.e., determining the modality of the action.


Dictionary-reference book of linguistic terms. Ed. 2nd. - M.: Enlightenment. Rosenthal D. E., Telenkova M. A.. 1976 .

See what “verb mood” is in other dictionaries:

    indicative mood- The mood of the verb, denoting the actual action being performed in the present, future or past tense. Verbs in the indicative mood represent an action that: 1) took place in the past; 2) takes place in the present; 3) will take place in... ...

    subjunctive mood- The mood of the verb, denoting a possible, desired action that did not happen, is not happening, but can happen under certain conditions. S.Sc. denotes an unreal action that is outside the category of time. Verbs S.n. change according to... Dictionary of linguistic terms T.V. Foal

    Mood, a grammatical category of a verb that expresses the relationship of the content of the statement to reality. Different languages ​​have different numbers of N. Unmarked (not formally expressed by special features) N., indicating that... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

    INTENTION, inclinations, cf. 1. Action under Ch. tilt tilt and tilt tilt. 2. The form of the verb expressing how the action is presented as real, desired, required, etc. (gram.). Indicative. Imperative... ... Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary

    imperative mood- A mood that has the meaning of incentive, denoting actions that, in accordance with the order, wish or request of the speaker, may occur (but may not occur): read, think, go, read, think, go. P.n. – this is surreal... Dictionary of linguistic terms T.V. Foal

    TILT, I, Wed. In grammar: a system of forms (paradigm) of a verb expressing the relationship of an action to reality. Indicative, imperative, subjunctive n. Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

    MOOD, a grammatical category of a verb (see VERB), the forms of which express differences in the relation of the content of the statement to reality or in the relation of the speaker to the content of the statement (indicative, subjunctive, imperative, ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

    This term has other meanings, see Mood. This article should be Wikified. Please format it according to the article formatting rules. Leaning... Wikipedia

    Mood- Mood is a grammatical category that expresses the attitude of the action named by the verb to reality from the point of view of the speaker. Mood is a grammatical way of expressing modality (V.V. Vinogradov). The grammatical meaning of the forms... ... Linguistic encyclopedic dictionary

    I; Wed 1. to Tilt tilt and Tilt tilt. 2. Linguistic A verb category that expresses an attitude towards reality. Indicative n. Imperative n. Subjunctive n. ◊ Magnetic inclination. Phys. The angle formed by the line of force... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Books

  • Set of tables. Russian language. Morphology. 15 tables, . Educational album of 15 sheets. Art. 5-8681-015. Morphological analysis of a word as a part of speech. Identification of morphological features of nouns and adjectives by comparison...
  • Essays on the morphology of the Russian verb, S. P. Obnorsky. The reader is invited to the work of the outstanding Russian linguist, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences S.P. Obnorsky, written on the basis of a special course, which the author has been authoring for many years...