WHAT EXACTLY IS THE SUBJUNCTIVE ?

The best way to think about the subjunctive is as a mood not as a tense.  The mood = uncertainty / doubt. There are in fact four Subjunctive tenses, but before we start to look at these let’s look at when we would use the subjunctive.  There are many words which will indicate doubt.  I think the best way to deal with the subjunctive is to recognize these words.   They will ring an alarm with you which will indicate that we need to think about and use the Subjunctive Tenses.

Words which should ring that alarm.