Realis mood

An example of the contrast between realis and irrealis moods is seen in the English sentences "He works" and "It is necessary that he work". In the first sentence, works is a present indicative (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, 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, 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) 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 real and ind.

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 Missouri and Mississippi Rivers rose to record heights in 1993. (past indicative)
• 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 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, Middle English and early and present-day Modern English.

Other moods existing in English besides the indicative are irrealis moods: the imperative ("Be quiet!") and the conditional ("I would be quiet") (although this is not always analyzed as a mood) and, in some dialects, the subjunctive (as in "I suggest you be quiet"). For some further information, see English verbs and Uses of English verb forms.