The Subjunctive Mood

Verbs in the subjunctive mood express actions which don't or didn't take place in reality, but which are supposed or wished to take place:

The subjunctive mood in Urdu is formed from the verbal stem by adding a personal ending. The personal endings are as follows:

Person	Singular	Plural
First (I)	uuN	(we) eN
Second (you)	e	(you) o
Third (he, she, it)	e	(they) eN

The conjugation of the verb 'to run away' in the subjunctive mood serves as an example of this mood. It is as follows:

Person	Singular	Plural
First	میں بھاگوں maiN bhaaguuN '(if) I run away'	ھم بھاگیں ham bhaageN '(if) we run away'
Second	تو بھاگے tuu bhaage '(if) you run away'	تم بھاگو tum bhaago '(if) you run away'
Third	بھاگے وہ vah bhaage '(if) he runs away'	بھاگیں وہ vah bhaageN '(if) they run away'

When the pronoun آپ aap is used as an honorific personal pronoun, it requires the verb in the third person plural:

آپ بھاگیں

aap bhaageN

'(if) you run away'

The verbs دینا denaa 'to give' and لینا lenaa 'to take' have the same stems as in the future tense, i.e. ﺩ d- and ﺎ l- respectively.

The verb ھونا honaa 'to be' forms the subjunctive mood irregularly:

Person	Singular	Plural
First	میں ھوں maiN hoN '(if) I were'	ھم ھوں ham hoN '(if) we were'
Second	تو ھو tuu ho '(if) you were' آپ ھوں aap hoN '(if) you (honorific) are'	تم ھو tum ho '(if) you were'
Third	وہ ھو vah ho '(if) he were'	وہ ھوں vah hoN '(if) they were'

Verbs in the subjunctive mood usually appear in the subordinate clauses of compound sentences:

اگر تم یہ کتاب پڑھو تو عقلمند ھوگے

agar tum yah kitaab paRho to aqlmand hoge

'If you read this book, you will be wise'

میرا ارادہ ھے کہ میں پاکستان جاؤں

meraa iraada hai ki maiN paakistaan jaauuN

'I intend to go to Pakistan'

(literally: 'My intention is, that I would go to Pakistan')

In interrogative sentences, the subjunctive mood usually implies asking for permission or advice:

دروازہ کھولوں ؟

darvaazaa kholuuN?

'May I open the door?'

میں یہ کام کروں ؟

maiN yah kaam karuuN?

'Shall I do this work?'

Along with the simple form of the subjunctive mood, Urdu also has compound forms called the present subjunctive, the present continuous subjunctive, and the perfect subjunctive. They are formed in the same way as the respective forms described in the topics for Present tense, the Present Continuous tense, and the Perfect tense, except that the verb 'to be' is in the subjunctive form:

ممکن ھے کہ وہ ھر شام یہ کتاب پڑھتا ھو

mumkin hai ki vah yah kitaab har shaam paRhtaa ho

'Possibly, he reads this book every evening'

چاھے وہ اب کام کر رہا ھو میں اس سے بات کرونگا

caahe vah ab kaam kar rahaa ho maiN us se baat karuuNgaa

'Even if he is working now, I'll talk to him'

The negative particle used with the subjunctive mood is not نہیں nahiiN but نہ na. This particle is also used with the verbs in the imperative mood and the conditional mood, and is usually placed before the verbal form:

اگر تم یہ کتاب نہ پڑھو تو عقلمند نہیں ھوگے

agar tum yah kitaab na paRho to aqllmand nahiiN hoge

'If you don't read this book, you will not be wise'