Arabic and English Sentence Patterns: A Comparative Guide

14 | P a g e TENSE AND TIME TENSE AND ASPECT CHARTS SENTENCE TYPES NOTES 4 MOOD and MODALITY: ENGLISH AND ARABIC Mood, like tense and aspect, refers primarily to a form of the verb. Its semantic counterpart is modality, which refers to the conditionality of a clause, sentence, or other contextual unit: whether the speaker or writer is indicating such conditions as possibility, probability, certainty, advisability, necessity, desirability, permissibility, or obligation. Mood refers to verb forms such as indicative (simple statements/questions), subjunctive (wishes, suggestions, some conditions, etc.), imperative (commands), and jussive (some negative commands and past events). 24 Mood and modality differ in roughly the same way that tense differs from time reference and aspect differs from time shape or cycle: there is not a one-to-one correspondence between the two. 25 MODALITY: DESIRABILITY May your will be done. (subjunctive mood) (jussive mood ﺣﺎﻟﺔ اﻟﺠﺰم : ) ﻟِﺘَﻜُﻦْ ﻣَﺸﯿﺌَﺘُﻚَ . He wanted (indicative mood) to sleep (infinitive form [not mood] 26 ) . (subjunctive mood ﺣﺎﻟﺔ اﻟﻨﺼﺐ : ) أَنْ ﯾَﻨﺎمَ . (indicative mood ﺣﺎﻟﺔ اﻟﺮﻓﻊ : ) أَرادَ MODALITY: OBLIGATION Let the criminal be brought forward. (subjunctive mood) (jussive mood ﺣﺎﻟﺔ اﻟﺠﺰم : ) ﻓَﻠْ ﯿُ ﺤْﻀَﺮْ اﻟﻤُﺠْﺮِمُ إﻟﻰ اﻷﻣﺎم. Have him close the door. (subjunctive mood) (jussive mood ﺣﺎﻟﺔ اﻟﺠﺰم : ) ﻟِﯿُ ﺴَﻜِّ ﺮْ اﻟﺒﺎبَ .* 27 F Comparing mood and modality in the sentences above confirms that context determines modality as it does time reference and cycle. Since modality is not