indikativt

Indikativt, or the indicative mood, is a grammatical mood used to express statements that are asserted as facts or perceived as real. It is the default mood for declarative sentences in many languages and is closely tied to describing reality. The term comes from Latin indicativus, meaning to indicate.

In many languages the indicative has multiple tenses, such as present, past, and sometimes future, and it is inflected for person and number. Some languages also encode aspects or perfect constructions within the indicative. The forms vary widely between languages, with some relying on simple verb endings and others using auxiliary verbs or periphrastic constructions to express tense and aspect.

Use of the indicative includes stating facts, reporting events, describing routine, or expressing beliefs about what is real. It is the main mood in which most ordinary, non-hypothetical sentences are formed. The indicative contrasts with other moods such as the subjunctive (used for hypothetical or non-real scenarios), the conditional (potential or contingent situations), and the imperative (commands).

Examples help illustrate the distinction. English: The sun rises in the east. Norwegian: Solen står opp i øst. Swedish: Solen går upp i öster. In each case the sentences convey real, factual statements rather than hypothetical or desired outcomes. Across languages, the exact conjugations and available tenses depend on the specific grammatical system, but the core function remains to present reality or perceived reality in a straightforward declarative form.