If You're a bird, I'm a bird

Question

At 14 seconds:Woman: Do you think in another life, I could have been a bird?Man: What do you mean?Woman: Like reincarnation.Man: I don't know.Woman: I think I could. Say I'm a bird.Man: No. Don't do it.Woman: Say I'm a bird.Man: Stop it. Stop it now. You're not. Woman: Say it!Man: You're a bird. Woman: Yeah. Now say you're a bird too.Man: If you're a bird, I'm a bird.In this dialogue, in the fifth line, somehow "I could be a bird" changed to "I'm a bird". And this leads eventually to the last line, "If you're a bird, I'm a bird", as opposed to "If you were a bird, I would be a bird".Two questions.(1) What makes the use of the present tense, as opposed to the past subjunctive, possible (from the fifth line on)?(2) In the last line, can the man say instead "If you were a bird, I would be a bird"?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

listeneverTwo questions.
(1) What makes the use of the present tense, as opposed to the past subjunctive, possible (from the fifth line on)?
(2) In the last line, can the man say instead "If you were a bird, I would be a bird"?

(1) What makes the present tense possible is that the woman can say whatever she wants. She utters an imperative ordering the man to say to her "You are a bird". She's asking him to tell a lie, of course, if you look at it one way, and she's asking him to say something playful if you look at it another way.

(2) No, the man cannot plausibly say "If you were a bird, I would be a bird". He is playing along with the conceit that she is a bird, just as he was asked to say, and she is physically present with him. They are not sitting in armchairs musing about the mysteries of life like philosophers (which would allow the "if you were" version). They are playing a sort of game in real time.

CJ

Listenever · Answer

So, it's not simply whether you're talking about something unreal or not that determines whether or not you should use the past subjunctive (if I were a bird) or the present tense (If I'm a bird), is it?

CalifJim · Answer

listeneverSo, it's not simply whether you're talking about something unreal or not that determines whether or not you should use the past subjunctive (if I were a bird) or the present tense (If I'm a bird), is it?

No. The difference has more to do with whether the situation is real (on-going, realistic) or unreal (imagined, hypothetical, theorizing), not whether the subject matter of the sentence is literally true/real or false/unreal. And what's real and unreal is based on what the people in the conversation have decided is real or unreal through subtle, sometimes subconscious, negotiations through the course of the conversation. You can't look at this as if it's a math problem with a definite answer.

This example is complicated by the use of interplay between non-metaphoric and metaphoric language. She wants to play; he wants to be serious. So she says she's a bird (metaphoric); he tells her not to say that (non-metaphoric). She moves to make him accept her metaphor (Say I'm a bird); he goes along with it (He says it). She draws him further into her imaginary world (Say you're a bird). Rather than complying directly this time, he uses a conditional (If you're a bird, I'm a bird) to resist being drawn in further, but at the same time to suggest that whatever she is, he wants to be that too (highly metaphoric for "I love you").

CJ

Jemis · Answer

CJ, thank you! Your explanation of the difference between the indicative and the subjunctive is one of the clearest and plainest I’ve seen. I teach High School French —in which the subjunctive is used abundantly—and this difference is very difficult to to convey in simple terms. I  may quote you!

If You're a bird, I'm a bird

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