Hypothetical mood explained

Hypothetical mood (abbreviated) is an epistemic grammatical mood found in some languages (for example Lakota) which indicates that while a statement is not actually true, it could easily have been.[1] For instance, in English, "You know you shouldn't play with knives! You could have hurt someone!" conveys a meaning that would be expressed with the hypothetical mood in Lakota.

References

  1. Web site: What is hypothetical mood?. SIL International. Glossary of linguistic terms. Loos. Eugene E.. Anderson. Susan. Day. Dwight H. Jr.. Jordan. Paul C.. Wingate. J. Douglas. 2009-12-28.