Jayson, that's how I have been working with the subjunctive, but it's not the best idea to assume that the subjunctive would work the same way in what is effectively a different language, which is why I asked here, and I'm glad I did.
I seem to have lost my two sheets of A4 on which I had the B&T entry for 'gif', but that link to the book is very good, thanks so much Iohannes.
I'm up to page 13, and I've learnt that 'gif' clauses take the subjunctive if the main clause is a command. So, you're right, Jayson, about the commanding and the wishing too, though I've not got to that bit yet. But, not all iffing gets its subjunctive, and those are the rules I wanted to figure out.
féd þonne mín scéap, gif þú mé lufige.
"If you love me, feed my sheep" (I like this one)
gif þú godes sunu sý, cwed þæt þás stánas tó hláfe gewurðon.
"If thou be God's son, command that these stones become bread."
onsend Higeláce gif mec hild nime, beaduscrúda betst, þæt míne bréost wered. Beowulf 452
"Send to Hygelac, if death take me, the best of war-coats, that protects my breast."
The book claims that these are not very subjunctive or hypothetical, though I can't really see that, but it is in contrast to the Latin, apparently, where you'd use the indicative. Example two is Satan talking to Jesus, and the book says that it's unlikely that Satan would doubt the divinity of Christ, or if he did, formality would require the indicative, that they use the subjunctive suggests it's a hard and fast rule.
There are occasions where OE writers have used the indicative rather than the subjunctive but the book suggests that they are sticking too close to the Latin originals.
Anyway, compare with:
Ac hé mé habban wile dréore fáhne, gif mec déað nimeþ. beowulf 446
"but he'll have me gore-splattered, if death takes me."
That's the first conditional right? It's iffing but no subjunctive. The conditionals come later in the book though. Watch this space.
I was a bit worried that this book is so old, but then again it's far newer than B&T, and it beats the subjunctive sections in my various OE books.
I'm going to do some practice using this structure.
I included my own translations, so that if I'm very wide of the mark you can correct me if you fancy.
Also, tell me to shut up if posting a summary of what I've learnt so far is not appropriate. I thought that, as well as being instructive for me, it might be helpful for those too busy to plough through that sluggish PDF file
Ooh, hang on, that's a command with an if. Let's have a go (in 3rd person of course):
Hátaþ hine swígan, gif hé sende gewritu þe ne sindon gedafenu.
