anyway. -- JSB???? Apr 4 '11 at 16:27 1 And the similarity of the subjunctive to the past is not because of any similarity of meaning, but because the particular grammatical forms in Old English (which was a more inflected language like German) have led to almost identical forms today. Compare German "er war" = "he was" (past) vs. "er wre" = "he were" (present subjunctive). -- Colin Fine Apr 4 '11 at 16:59 1 Note that we don't use just any subjunctive in hypothetical conditionals in modern English: were is the past subjunctive, as opposed to be , the present subjunctive ( be they men or women, they shall die ). Note also that if they had been is technically past perfect subjunctive, not ordinary past perfect. There is no difference in form, but that shouldn't be a reason to stop differentiating between these tenses; we also differentiate between be in he will be rich (infinitive) and in he requests that the goods be delivered (present subjunctive). -- Cerberus Apr 4 '11 at 22:39