'If he was still alive' or 'if he were still alive'?

[DrNortherner]

which is correct?

The second one, but practically nobody uses the subjunctive these days.

were sounds better.

Past tense for "am"
I was
It was
She was
He was
They were
We were

Ready to be proven wrong but I "think" as "he" is the singular and it is past tense then you use "was"
Sounds wrong and head fuzzy though.. Hmmm!

But it's not a past tense, because of the 'if' - it's something that hasn't happened, so you need the subjunctive.

doh - and that is why the "were" sounds better, not thinking about the subjunctive.
Geez I need to start using my DDs Brain training

The subjunctive mood according to Wikipedia - scroll down to the bit about English.

BagelBird.

if he were

Definitely if he were. I am one of the people who enjoys use of the subjunctive (and become irrationally annoyed at songs like "I wish I was a punk rocker, with flowers in my hair").

WOW. Seeing the words "pluperfect subjunctive" in print has taken me right back to my A level studies (long long long ago) . It has been way too long.

Such a shame that so much of what we learn is lost in the ether and non important information gets stored in our brains instead. All the good stuff is being taken over and now I have a brain full of useless facts like the names of the entire cast of Power Rangers or all the words to endless chidrens TV programme theme tunes... (or maybe that it just me again! )

Oh no, definitely not just you BagelBird. Though I can't do the Power Rangers.

In your particular context, "were" would be correct, as the subjunctive is indicated where you are positing a hypothesis that is not a fact (necessarily so, since the person isn't alive).

There are contexts where the subjunctive isn't indicated - eg "If the concert is [not "be"] on Friday then I won't be able to come".