indicatives

Meanings

1. 1nounpluraltechnical

   Verb forms or sentences used for stating facts or asking questions, as opposed to commands or wishes.

   Grammar: Plural form: indicatives are the verb forms for statements.

   Patterns

   • compare indicatives and subjunctives

   The teacher marked the indicatives in the exercise.

   In Latin, the indicatives are the first forms students learn.

   Compare the indicatives with the subjunctives in this table.

2. 2nounpluralformalrare

   Signs or measures that show the state of something.

   Grammar: Less common; usually appears as indicators.

   Patterns

   • indicatives of something

   The report listed key economic indicatives.

   These indicatives suggest the market is slowing.

   Several indicatives pointed to a healthy crop.

Common combinations

present indicatives

The book lists the present indicatives of regular verbs.

indicatives and subjunctives

Learners often mix up indicatives and subjunctives.

the main indicatives

He explained the main indicatives of the language.

economic indicatives

The economic indicatives look strong this year.

learn the indicatives

Beginners learn the indicatives before the other moods.

Synonyms and how they differ

indicators

Indicators is far more common for signs or measures, and indicatives is mainly a grammar term.

signs

Signs is the everyday word and has no technical flavor.

declaratives

Declaratives usually means statement sentences, while indicatives refers to the verb mood.

Opposites

Word family

indicative adjective

showing or suggesting something

indicate verb

to point out or show

indication noun

a sign

indicator noun

something that shows a condition

Commonly confused: indicatives or indicators?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “indicatives”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

Explore more words