The Spanish Subjunctive Explained

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The subjunctive can be confusing to many English speaking students of Spanish due to the fact it is rarely used in English. I am assuming that, because you are reading this post on the subjunctive in Spanish, that you are probably familiar with the most commonly used verb mood which is the indicative. The indicative is a verb mood that all of your initial verb studies would have been in and it is therefore considered the normal verb form as it indicates both action and state of being, there is also the distinct possiblility that you may also be aware of the formation and use of the imperative mood which is used when giving commands {if not, an explanation can be found on this blog}. The Subjunctive, however, is used to express a wish, a strong emotional attitude, or an uncertainty.

In general, the subjunctive is a verb mood that is used to express an action or state of being in the context of the speaker’s reaction to it. It is often the case, although not always, that the subjunctive mood is used in dependent clauses introduced by que (which, that, who). It is common to use a subjunctive verb in sentences that express doubt, uncertainty, denial, desire/wish, commands, reactions or a strong emotional attitude to the sentence containing the subjunctive verb.

Here are some examples comparing the Indicative and Subjunctive:

Indicative:

• Jose almuerza. (Jose is having lunch)

Subjunctive:

• Wish= Espero que Jose almuerce. (I hope that Jose is having lunch)
• Desire= Te ruego que almuerces (I beg you to have lunch)
• Doubt= Dudo que Jose almuerce (I doubt that Jose is having lunch).

• Indicative (statement of fact): Jose almuerza. (Jose is having lunch)
• Indicative (statement of fact): Sé que Jose almuerza. (I know that Jose is having lunch)

• Subjunctive (doubt): No es cierto que Jose almuerce. (It is uncertain that Jose is having lunch.)
• Subjunctive (denial): No es verdad que Jose almuerce. (It is not true that Jose is having lunch)
• Subjunctive (reaction): Estoy feliz que Jose almuerce. (I am happy that Jose is having lunchg)
• Subjunctive (wish): Espero que Jose almuerce (I hope that Jose is having lunch)
• Subjunctive (desire/wish): Prefiero que Jose almuerce (I prefer that Jose is having lunch).

When making formal commands the subjunctive is also used:

• ¡Tenga Ud eso! (Have this!)

This is also the case when making informal commands that are negative:

• ¡No almuerces! (Don´t have lunch!)

For commands that mean encouragement:

• ¡Almorcemos! (Let’s have lunch!).

And after impressional statements:

• Es necesario que/ insisto que Jose almuerce... (I insist that Jose has lunch).

For those of you who are strugging to come to terms with the subjunctive in Spanish or with learning Spanish verbs in general, may I suggest clicking on the following link and reading my first hand and honest review of the verbarrator. The verbarrator is a verb training software program which is, in my opinion, the best program currently available for mastering the complexities of Spanish conjugation… and if you decide to purchase it through one of the many links on my site you will also receive a copy of my conjugation book ‘2000+ Spanish Irregular Verbs‘ completely free!

For more interesting and informative reading check out my previous post about Ser Subjunctive conjugation

Spanish Subjunctive: Ser Subjunctive Conjugation

Click Here to learn how to conjugate irregular Spanish verbs quickly and with ease

The Spanish Subjunctive is a strange concept to English speakers as it is very rarely used in the English language, in Spanish however it is used frequently. The subjunctive is a verb mood that is typically used to express a wish, emotion, opinion, judgement, possibility or something that has not yet happened and if you need further information regarding an explanation of how the subjunctive is used in Spanish there is a link at the end of this post that will help you.

This post, however, will provide the irregular conjugation of each of the tenses of the much used Spanish verb Ser in the subjunctive.

Subjunctive Present Tense (Subjuntivo presente)

• yo sea
• tú seas
• él/ella sea
• usted sea
• nosotros/as seamos
• vosotos/as seáis
• ellos/ellas sean
• ustedes sean

Subjunctive Imperfect Tense (Subjuntivo pretérito imperfecto)

• yo fuera/fuese
• tú fuera/fueses
• él/ella fuera/fuese
• usted fuera/fuese
• nosotros/as fuéramos/fuésemos
• vosotos/as fuerais/fuereis
• ellos/ellas fueran/fuesen
• ustedes fueran/fuesen

Just to add to any confusion you may be suffering from, it should be noted that there are two different set of endings for the imperfect tense in the subjunctive both mean the same and either can be used!

Subjunctive Future Tense (Subjuntivo futuro imperfecto)

• yo fuere
• tú fueres
• él/ella fuere
• usted fuere
• nosotros/as fuéremos
• vosotos/as fuereis
• ellos/ellas fueren
• ustedes fueren

Here are some links to other ‘ser‘ related posts:

• Present Tense Conjugation of Ser
• Imperfect Tense Conjugation of Ser
• Ser vs Estar
• Preterite Tense of Ser
• Spanish Subjunctive

…and if you need a full and complete Ser Conjugation chart one can be downloaded and printed from the Ser conjugation page on the main site.

However, if you are one of the many students of Spanish who need more help with learning Spanish verbs, I will suggest that you click on the following link and read my verbarrator review which is, in my opinion, the best verb training program currently available for the study of Spanish verb conjugation…

I also offer a copy of my conjugation book ‘2000+ Spanish Irregular Verbs‘ completely free if you purchase verbarrator through one of the many links to e found throughout my site, which is a promotion you will not find anywhere else online!

Ser Conjugation, Ser vs Estar etc…

Click Here to learn how to conjugate irregular Spanish verbs quickly and with ease

Understanding all aspects of Ser conjugation is extremely important to anyone who is learning Spanish and arguably the most important of the ser conjugation patterns to master is that of the indicative present tense.

However, before you even learn the conjugation of the irregular Spanish verb ser it is a requirement to understand how it is used, or even if ser is the verb you should even be using! This is because, unlike as in English, Spanish has two verbs that that are used that mean ‘to be‘, and these are, as you probably know already…ser and estar.

The rules surrounding the use of ser and estar may seem complicated at first but do become much easier after continuous and regular use, thus making the ser vs estar question a distant memory very quickly for the majority of students. Unfortunately though, before this can happen, a period of study is required and in order to master this area of Spanish efficiently you will need concise and accurate information that relates to the differences between these two Spanish verbs and also the conjugation of the verb ser… all this information can be found here, on this blog, and on the main website of irregularspanishverbs.com and all the links you will need are listed below:

Present Tense Conjugation of Ser
Imperfect Tense Conjugation of Ser
Ser vs Estar
Preterite Tense of Ser
Ser Subjunctive Conjugation

…and you can visit this link for a full and complete Ser Conjugation chart that can be downloaded and printed.

For those of you who need more help with learning Spanish verbs, may I suggest reading my review of the verbarrator verb training software which is, in my opinion, the best program currently available for studying, and mastering, the complexities of Spanish verb conjugation…I also offer a copy of my conjugation book ‘2000+ Spanish Irregular Verbs‘ completely free when purchasing the verbarrator through any links found across my site, a promotion found nowhere else online!