noun
Grammatical term referring to the subjunctive mood, used to express hypothetical, wished, or contrary-to-fact situations. In Japanese, this often corresponds to conditional forms like 〜ば, 〜たら, or 〜なら.
英語の仮定法は、日本語の条件表現と完全には一致しない。
The English subjunctive mood does not completely correspond to Japanese conditional expressions.
仮定法過去完了は、過去の事実に反する仮定を表す。
The past perfect subjunctive expresses a hypothesis contrary to past facts.
Compound of 仮定 (assumption, hypothesis) and 法 (law, rule, method), literally 'method of supposition'. A calque from Western grammatical terminology.