# Conditional - mood or tense?



## artimedoros49

Hello,

In other languages I have always learnt that the Conditional is a mood, not a tense. 
But I’m confused, because in _Czech An Essential Grammar_, James Naughton refers to it as a tense. 
Is this so in Czech? I’d just like to get my grammatical facts right.

Thank you


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## Mori.cze

I'd say it's a mood, but I am no linguist.


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## Enquiring Mind

Hi artimedoros49, Czech grammarians call the conditional a mood  - _kondicionál _or _podmiňovací způsob_. It's not called podmiňovací čas . In English grammar the conditional is a tense, and the subjunctive is a mood.  But Czech doesn't have a subjunctive. The function of what would be a subjunctive in the Romance languages is usually rendered in Czech by the particle _(a)by_ (in its different forms) + past tense, which also renders the conditional.

I want you to come with me. Chci, *abys šel* se mnou. Je veux que tu viennes avec moi [subjunctive in French].
We would like you to know it. Chtěli bychom, *abys* to *věděl*. Nous voudrions que tu le saches.


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## artimedoros49

Thank you both. I can now see why Naughton refers to it as a "tense", as it's probably easier to explain and learn as such. 
I have since found that even one of my most respected French Grammars refers to the Conditional's "dual role as tense and mood, even though traditionally it is a mood",
- which is what I learnt it to be.


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## werrr

Definitely a mood! If only because there are several tenses within the mood:

šel by
byl by šel
byl by býval šel​


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## artimedoros49

Good point. Thank you, werr.


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