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A realis mood (
abbreviated An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...
) is a
grammatical mood In linguistics, grammatical mood is a grammatical feature of verbs, used for signaling modality. That is, it is the use of verbal inflections that allow speakers to express their attitude toward what they are saying (for example, a statement of ...
which is used principally to indicate that something is a statement of fact; in other words, to express what the speaker considers to be a known state of affairs, as in
declarative sentence In linguistics and grammar, a sentence is a linguistic expression, such as the English example " The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." In traditional grammar, it is typically defined as a string of words that expresses a complete thoug ...
s. Most languages have a single realis mood called the indicative mood, although some languages have additional realis moods, for example to express different levels of certainty. By contrast, an irrealis mood is used to express something that is not known to be the case in reality. An example of the contrast between realis and irrealis moods is seen in the
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...
sentences "He works" and "It is necessary that he work". In the first sentence, ''works'' is a
present indicative The present tense (abbreviated or ) is a grammatical tense whose principal function is to locate a situation or event in the present time. The present tense is used for actions which are happening now. In order to explain and understand present t ...
(realis) form of the verb, and is used to make a direct assertion about the real world. In the second sentence, ''work'' is in the
subjunctive mood The subjunctive (also known as conjunctive in some languages) is a grammatical mood, a feature of the utterance that indicates the speaker's attitude towards it. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality ...
, which is an irrealis mood – here ''that he work'' does not necessarily express a fact about the real world (he could be rejecting necessity and refusing to work), but refers to what would be a desirable state of affairs. However, since mood is a
grammatical category In linguistics, a grammatical category or grammatical feature is a property of items within the grammar of a language. Within each category there are two or more possible values (sometimes called grammemes), which are normally mutually exclusiv ...
, referring to the form a verb takes rather than its meaning in a given instance, a given language may use realis forms for a number of purposes other than their principal one of making direct factual statements. For example, many languages use indicative verb forms to ask questions (this is sometimes called
interrogative mood An interrogative clause is a clause whose form is typically associated with question-like meanings. For instance, the English sentence "Is Hannah sick?" has interrogative syntax which distinguishes it from its declarative counterpart "Hannah is ...
) and in various other situations where the meaning is in fact of the irrealis type (as in the English "I hope it works", where the indicative ''works'' is used even though it refers to a desired rather than real state of affairs). The indicative might therefore be defined as the mood used in all instances where a given language does not specifically require the use of some other mood. Realis mood and indicative mood can be indicated by the respective glossing abbreviations and . __TOC__


The English indicative

In Modern English, the indicative mood is for statements of actuality or strong probability, and in addition acts as a default mood for all instances which do not require use of a specific mood: * The spine-tailed swift flies faster than any other bird in the world. (
present indicative The present tense (abbreviated or ) is a grammatical tense whose principal function is to locate a situation or event in the present time. The present tense is used for actions which are happening now. In order to explain and understand present t ...
) * The Missouri and Mississippi Rivers rose to record heights in 1993. (
past indicative The past tense is a grammatical tense whose function is to place an action or situation in the past. Examples of verbs in the past tense include the English verbs ''sang'', ''went'' and ''washed''. Most languages have a past tense, with some hav ...
) * Mid-westerners will remember the flooding for many years to come. ( future indicative) Some forms of the indicative can be used with ''do'', ''does'', or ''did'', either for emphasis, or to form questions or negatives. See ''do''-support. Distinctions between indicative and other moods such as the
subjunctive The subjunctive (also known as conjunctive in some languages) is a grammatical mood, a feature of the utterance that indicates the speaker's attitude towards it. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality s ...
were marked inflectionally to a greater extent in historical forms of the language than in Modern English. The following table shows the indicative suffixes used on regular verbs in
Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...
,
Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old Englis ...
and early and present-day Modern English.''The Cambridge History of the English Language''. Richard M. Hogg, Roger Lass, Norman Francis Blake, Suzanne Romaine, R. W. Burchfield, John Algeo (2000). Other moods existing in English besides the indicative are the imperative ("Be quiet!") and the
conditional Conditional (if then) may refer to: *Causal conditional, if X then Y, where X is a cause of Y *Conditional probability, the probability of an event A given that another event B has occurred *Conditional proof, in logic: a proof that asserts a co ...
("I would be quiet") (although this is not always analyzed as a mood) and in some dialects, the
subjunctive The subjunctive (also known as conjunctive in some languages) is a grammatical mood, a feature of the utterance that indicates the speaker's attitude towards it. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality s ...
(as in "I suggest you be quiet"). For some further information, see
English verbs Verbs constitute one of the main parts of speech (word classes) in the English language. Like other types of words in the language, English verbs are not heavily inflected. Most combinations of tense, aspect, mood and voice are expressed peri ...
and
Uses of English verb forms This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of s ...
.


Other

Although the indicative is generally the main or only realis mood, certain other languages have additional forms which can be categorized as separate realis moods.
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
and various other
Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigrant ...
have two kinds of energetic moods, which express something which is strongly believed or which the speaker wishes to emphasize. Their exact meanings are dependent upon the prefix that is attached to them. For example, is in the long energetic mood and has strong obligation meanings; it means "he certainly writes" and if it is preceded by , , it will have the meaning of "he must write". The short energetic expresses weak obligation, e.g., which means "he almost writes"; if it is preceded by a prefix like , , it means "he should write". The declarative mood (
abbreviated An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...
) indicates that a statement is true, without any qualifications being made. For many languages this is just an alternative name for the indicative mood, although sometimes distinctions between them are drawn. It may contrast with inferential mood. Reference is sometimes made to a "generic mood", for making general statements about a particular class of things; this may be considered to be an aspect rather than a mood. See gnomic aspect. For other grammatical features which may be considered to mark distinct realis moods, see Evidentiality, Sensory evidential mood, and Mirativity. See also
Linguistic modality In linguistics and philosophy, modality refers to the ways language can express various relationships to reality or truth. For instance, a modal expression may convey that something is likely, desirable, or permissible. Quintessential modal ex ...
.


References

{{Authority control Grammatical moods