different between subjunctive vs optative

English

Etymology

From Latin subjunct?vus (“serving to join, connecting, in grammar applies to the subjunctive mode”), from subjungere (“to add, join, subjoin”), from sub (“under”) + jungere (“to join, yoke”). See join.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s?b?d???kt?v/

Adjective

subjunctive (not comparable)

1. (grammar, of a verb) Inflected to indicate that an act or state of being is possible, contingent or hypothetical, and not a fact.

Translations

Noun

subjunctive (countable and uncountable, plural subjunctives)

1. (grammar, uncountable) Ellipsis of subjunctive mood.
2. (countable) A form in the subjunctive mood.

Derived terms

• subjunctive mood

Related terms

• subjoin

Translations

Further reading

• Subjunctive mood on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• English subjunctive on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• subjunctive in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• subjunctive in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Interlingua

Adjective

subjunctive

1. subjunctive

Related terms

• subjunctivo

Latin

Adjective

subj?nct?ve

1. vocative masculine singular of subj?nct?vus

English

Alternative forms

• (abbreviation, grammar): opt.

Etymology

From Middle French optatif, from Late Latin opt?t?vus, a calque of Ancient Greek ??????? (euktik?, “related to wishing”), from Latin opt?tus, past participle of opt?re.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??pt?t?v/, /?p?te?t?v/
• Hyphenation: op?ta?tive
• Rhymes: -e?t?v

Adjective

optative (not comparable)

1. Expressing a wish or a choice.
   • 1662, Thomas Fuller, History of the Worthies of England

     an optative blessing

   • 1996, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest, Back Bay, 2006. page 64.

     ... then, in the optative retirement from hard science that building and opening a U.S.T.A-accredited and pedagogically experimental tennis academy apparently represented for him ...

2. (grammar) Related or pertaining to the optative mood.

Translations

Noun

optative (plural optatives)

1. (grammar) A mood of verbs found in some languages (e.g. Sanskrit, Old Prussian, Ancient Greek), used to express a wish. English does not have inflectional optative forms.
2. (grammar) A verb or expression in the optative mood.

Derived terms

• optatively

Translations

See also

• subjunctive

French

Adjective

optative

1. feminine singular of optatif

Latin

Adjective

opt?t?ve

1. vocative masculine singular of opt?t?vus