Definition of Indicative Mode
Miscellanea / / July 04, 2021
By Javier Navarro, in Aug. 2017
The verbal mode we use when speaking determines the attitude of the speaker in the communication. In Spanish there are three modes: indicative, subjunctive and imperative. It should be noted that some classifications also include the conditional mode.
The different simple verb tenses of the indicative mood allow to explain real events
If we want communicate true facts it is necessary to resort to the indicative. The different verb tenses of the indicative mood are divided between simple and compound (the former are made up of a single word and the latter by two).
The present indicative locates the situation at the moment something is pronounced. So, I can say "now I work" or "at this moment you dance". Sometimes the present is used to express that something is done in a habitual way (if I say "he writes in English"I'm saying that someone performs this action regularly). The present is also used in a sense of the past (for example, "Colón arrives at America at the end of the 15th century ").
The preterite simple perfect locates the expressed situation at a point in the past, but a fully finalized past. Thus, if I affirm "I studied German" I am indicating that it is something that happened and that it has nothing to do with the present. The imperfect past expresses something in a moment of the past but without showing its end (for example "at that time he was studying medicine").
The imperfect future refers to an action in the future that will occur during a certain period of time (for example, "next year I will study botany"). The simple conditional is identified because it ends in ría and expresses that something could happen or not ("I would study German if I had time").
Compound tenses of the indicative mood
They are formed with the auxiliary verb have plus the participle of the verb. The past perfect compound locates a situation from the past in relation to the present (for example "he cooked this morning"). The past perfect refers to a past prior to another past (for example "she had already arrived when he appeared").
The past tense is very rare and is a past immediately prior to another past (for example, "when the siren had sounded the workers left").
The future perfect is used to establish a specific point of the future (for example "before 2020 the students will have passed all the exams").
The indicative mood should not be confused with the subjunctive mood
The indicative is used to express ideas objectively and the subjunctive is not. Thus, if I say "the Earth is round" I am using the present tense of the verb to be in the indicative mood, since it is a totally real and indisputable idea.
On the other hand, if I say "I don't think Pepe has enemies", the verb form has the present subjunctive used to express a opinion.
Photos: Fotolia - Oksana Kuzmina / implementfilms
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