Questions about the subjunctive mood

Dear native English speakers,

I'm a Japanese teacher teaching English to Japanese students.
I'd appreciated it if someone would help me.

(1) Are the following sentences correct?

(a) If John had not bought that jet plane, he would have much more money now.

(b) If Nancy had not broken her leg then, she would be swimming here with us now.

(c) If I knew the answer to that question, I would have told you a long time ago.


(2) Are the following translations correct? (If you don't understand Japanese,
please check the English sentences.)

(a)あのとき(then)私が「ノー」と言っていたら、今、事情(things)は全く違っているだろうに。
If I had said "no" then, things would be quite/totally different now.

(b)あのときトムが私を助けてくれなかったら、私は今生きていないだろう。(生きている＝alive)
If Tom hadn't saved me then, I would not be alive now.

(c)彼があのとき死んでいなかったら、今、彼は３０歳になっているだろう。
If he hadn't died then, he would be thirty (years old) now.

(d)医者の忠告に従っていたら、私は今病気になっていないだろう。
(病気だ＝sickかill)
If I had followed the/my doctor's advice, I would not be sick/ill now.

(e)もし私の息子が天才(genius)だとしたら、私は彼を過小評価していたことになるのだが。
(～を過小評価する＝underestimate～)
If my son were/was a genius, I would have underestimated him.

(f)もっと勉強しておけば、私は、今、苦労していないでしょう。
(苦労している＝be in trouble)
If I had studied more/harder, I would not be in trouble now.

(g)昨日、もっと早く寝ていたら、今、こんなに眠くなかっただろうに。
(こんなに眠い＝so sleepy)
If I had gone to bed earlier yesterday, I would not be so sleepy now.

(h)彼がその飛行機に乗っていたら、彼は、今ここにいるだろう。(いる＝be)
If he had gotten on the/that plane, he would be here now.
If he had taken the/that plane, he would be here now.

(i)もし彼が日本人だったら、私は、彼をここへ連れてきたでしょう。
If he was/were Japanese, I would have brought him here.


That's all.

Thanks in advance.

Hirashin

They're all perfect.

What a pity that so many native speakers totally screw it up by using "would" in the first part of the subjunctive.

example: If I would have paid attention in school I wouldn't be so stupid now.

(Or even worse...."If I would of studied harder I wouldn't make such awful mistakes")

This is one of my largest pet peeves regarding how native speakers butcher English grammar.

The only one I would question is 2e. The idea being expressed seems unusual anyway, but the normal forms would be:

If my son were/was a genius, I would underestimate him.
If my son had been a genius, I would have underestimated him.

I cannot think of any context in which one would use your version.

Thanks for the help, Mike and eeky.

Eeky questioned 2e. Another native speaker also says it doesn't make sense.

To tell you the truth, I chose the sentence because it is from a book written by
Prof. Katsuaki Horiuchi, a famous professor who has edited a lot of dictionaries.

I have trusted his books. But should I keep trusting his books from now on?

Mike, I'd like to hear your opinion about 2e. Does it make sense?

Hirashin

Subjunctive is one area where most native speakers' opinions are best ignored, as it is so nearly universally grossly misused by them.

Did the native speaker you asked have the capacity to understand the situation in the Japanese sentence? It is a sort of hard scenario to imagine being talked about, but the translation matches the original just fine in my opinion.

Thank you very much for your comment, Mike. I really appreciate it.

hirashin said:

To tell you the truth, I chose the sentence because it is from a book written by
Prof. Katsuaki Horiuchi, a famous professor who has edited a lot of dictionaries.

Click to expand...

While it is not categorically wrong in terms of grammar, I personally think it would be better to drop that sentence and replace it with another one that is easier to grasp.

Thanks for your advice, eeky. Yes. I think you are right. I'll drop the sentence next time.

I don't think any of these involve the subjunctive....

Albatrosspro said:

I don't think any of these involve the subjunctive....

Click to expand...

Then you have a misunderstanding of the subjunctive mood.

Mike Cash said:

Then you have a misunderstanding of the subjunctive mood.

Click to expand...

Well, that was interesting. I had never thought of the "had...would" construction in English as involving the subjunctive, but rather just a past perfect followed by a conditional perfect. Apparently there is some disagreement as to which verb tenses have subjunctive forms at all in modern English... if they do, they are identical to the indicative forms anyway. In 1c and the couple cases where "were" is given as an option, there do seem to be patent subjunctive moods (although 1c again is identical to the indicative). Oh well, English has evolved to be quite slippery with its subjunctives, and I imagine the foreign student would be confused as to what's a subjunctive and what isn't. Yet another reason for me to find a good old-fashioned grammar.