Re: La Logique du conditionnel (was: Re: The phrase 'I'd like...')

Christophe Grandsire wrote:
>
> En réponse à Douglas Koller, Latin & French :
>>
>> But imperfect subjunctive is *quite well* on the way
>> out in French, so unless I'm handed the reins of the
>> Académie Française, I shan't hold my breath. "Si je
>> serais," ? <cringe>. Indeed, deplorable (no offense
>> to your pal). Meanwhile the Esperanto sentence
>> causes me no indigestion, since subjunctive forms
>> don't exist ("Se mi estis sana, mi estus felicxa."? Blech!).
>
> Actually, Esperanto does have a subjunctive (the form
> is -u). But this subjunctive is used only in jussive con-
> structions (imperative and after things like "voli": to
> want) and as such is unfit for conditional constructions.
Li fermas la pordon = He closes the door.
Fermu la pordon! = Close the door!
Mi volas, ke li fermu la pordon = I want him to close the door.
        {lit. I want, that he close the door}

(Although it's never referred to as a subjunctive in Esp-o
books. It's always called the imperative. My third sentence
above is called an "indirect command" in Esperanto text
books.)

--Ph. D.

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