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English has subjunctive mood, it is often used in counterfactuals like the first clause of "if I were taller, I could reach the ceiling". sometimes you can get
by leetcrew 3y ago
English has subjunctive mood, it is often used in counterfactuals like the first clause of "if I were taller, I could reach the ceiling". sometimes you can get away with saying "was" instead of "were" in these constructions, but your middle school english teacher would be disappointed.
- CannisterFlux 3y agoThis use has almost died out in everyday speech though. I listen to many podcasts in which different people across different age groups and backgrounds are always messing it up, e.g. "if I was good at this", which really clangs to my ears, but it's very common.
- crazygringo 3y agoYes, but barely -- it's literally just a single instance of using "were" instead of "was". While Portuguese? Welcome to full sets of conjugations for past subjunctive, present subjunctive, and future subjunctive. And everybody uses them in regular speech, they're not like a formal writing thing or something.