Oct 11, 2019
Oh Spanish Subjunctive, you are a tough one to master...
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Oh Spanish Subjunctive, you are a tough one to master...
100 días de español
El trigésimo octavo día: aprender 1 nuevo concepto gramatical y explicarlo.
Voy a hablar del subjuntivo. (Note: I am mostly citing this article by Laura K. Lawless.)
I am discussing the subjunctive in parts. This post is part III. You can find part I here and part II here.
Lawless says Spanish future subjunctive tense "is becoming obsolete. You are unlikely to ever hear it, as in spoken Spanish it tends to be replaced by the present subjunctive. The Spanish future subjunctive may still be found in writing, such as literature and and legal documents, so it’s good to be able to recognize it." Which is why I decided to make this post.
The future subjunctive is formed much like the imperfect (past) form: by taking the stem of the ellos form of the pretérito and adding the appropriate ending.
Endings: -re, -res, -re, -'remos (the ['] means an acute accent is added to this form), -ren*
(*I’m only considering Latin American Spanish for this lesson.)
Using the verb hablar:
yo hablare
tú hablares
él, ella, usted hablare
nosotros habláremos
ustedes, ellos hablaren
Using the verb tener:
yo tuviere
tú tuvieres
él, ella, usted tuviere
nosotros tuviéremos
ustedes, ellos tuvieren
100 días de español
El trigésimo octavo día: aprender 1 nuevo concepto gramatical y explicarlo.
Voy a hablar del subjuntivo. (Note: I am mostly citing this article by Rob Ashby.)
I am discussing the subjunctive in parts. This post is part II. You can find part I here.
Forming the imperfect tense (the past tense): for this, there is another set of conjugations. The stem comes from the ellos form of the pretérito. Though there are two ways to conjugate the imperfect tense, the first way is more common.
Form I
-AR verb endings become -ra, -ras, -ra, -ramos, -ran*
(*I'm only considering Latin American Spanish for this lesson.)
-ER, -IR verb endings become -iera, -ieras, -iera, -iéramos, -ieran
Form II
-AR verb endings become -se, -ses, -se, -semos, -sen
-ER, -IR verb endings become -iese, -ieses, -iese, -iésemos, -iesen
For example:
When conjugating a verb like hablar, you must use the stem of hablaron.
So the first way looks like this:
yo hablara
tú hablaras
él, ella, usted hablara
nosotros habláramos
ustedes, ellos hablaran
And the second way, like this:
yo hablase
tú hablases
él, ella, usted hablase
nosotros hablásemos
ustedes, ellos hablasen
When conjugating a verb like comer, you must use the stem of comieron:
yo comiera
tú comieras
él, ella, usted comiera
nosotros comiéramos
ustedes, ellos comieran
That was the first way. The second is as follows:
yo comiese
tú comieses
él, ella, usted comiese
nosotros comiésemos
ustedes, ellos comiesen
In part III, I will talk about forming the future subjunctive and where it is used.
100 días de español
El trigésimo octavo día: aprender 1 nuevo concepto gramatical y explicarlo.
Voy a hablar del subjuntivo. (Note: I am mostly citing this article by Rob Ashby.)
I am going to discuss the subjunctive in parts. This post is part I.
The subjuntive in Spanish is a mood, rather than a tense. It is used to:
express doubt
show feeling and emotion about something
to express whether or not we think something is true
The subjunctive uses its own conjugations. For example, to form the present, the -AR endings switch around with the -IR and -ER endings.
-AR verb endings become -e, -es, -e, -emos, -en*
(*I'm only considering Latin American Spanish for this lesson.)
-ER verb endings become -a, -as, -a, -amos, -an
Think of the yo form of the indicative tense: yo trabajo
yo trabaje
tú trabajes
él, ella, usted trabaje
nosotros trabajemos
ustedes, ellos trabajen
Or, for example, yo como
yo coma
tú comas
él, ella, usted coma
nosotros comamos
ustedes, ellos coman
The same applies to "go" verbs and stem-changing verbs!
"Go" verbs:
yo tenga
tú tengas
él, ella, usted tenga
nosotros tengamos
ustedes, ellos tengan
Stem-changing verbs:
yo piense
tú pienses
él, ella, usted piense
nosotros pensemos (nosotros keeps the non-changed stem)
ustedes, ellos piensen
Part II will be about how to form the imperfect tense.
Learn how to express doubt, disbelief, and denial in Spanish using subjunctive. Learn common verbs used to doubt or deny something
can someone spanish pls help me with quizás i don't understand when you use the subjunctive and when you use the indicative?? ¿ puede alguien ayudarme a comprender cuando usas el subjuntivo o el indicativo con "quizás" ?
Practica el subjuntivo en línea
Mr. Peto creó una lista de varios ejericios en línea para practicar el subjuntivo.
http://mrpeto.com/2011grammar/subjunctive.html
How To Use the Present Spanish Subjunctive after "que"
The subjunctive mood in Spanish can be something that makes its learners uneasy or very confused. I’m going to go through how to form it first then explain its rules. Please forgive me for its length!
How to form the present subjunctive:
Take “yo” of present tense verb and drop the -o. Ex. yo camino —> camin- Ex. yo escribo —> yo escrib-
Next, If the verb is originally -AR, give it the endings for the -ER/-IR verbs in the present tense form. NOTE:There is no ending with “o” in subjunctive. It’ll always be “e or a”. AR Verbs Present subjunctive endings: yo - e nosotros- emos tú- es vosotros- eís él/ella/ud- e ellos/ustedes- en Ex. Espero que ella camine (caminar) a mi casa- I hope she walks to my house. Ex. Es importante que hablen (hablar) con el sacerdote. - It’s important for them to talk to the priest. etc.
If the verb is originally -ER/-IR, give it the endings for the -AR verbs in the present tense form. yo - a nosotros- amos tú- as vosotros- aís él/ella/ud- a ellos/ustedes- an Ex. No creo que vivan (vivir) allá. - I don’t believe they live there. Ex. Quiero que me escribas (escribir) una carta - I want you to write me a card. etc.
IRREGULAR CONJUGATIONS: There are some verbs (which are common) that have their own unique conjugation, if you will, in the present subjuctive. They are dar, ir, ser, haber, estar, saber. Together, they make the acronym “DISHES”. These are the only irregulares in the present tense.
DAR- dé, dés, dé, demos,deis, den
IR- vaya, vayas, vaya, vayamos, vayáis, vayan
SER- sea, seas, sea, seamos, seáis, sean
HABER- haya, hayas, haya, hayamos, hayáis, haya
ESTAR- esté, estés, esté, estemos,estéis, estén
SABER- sepa, sepas, sepa, sepamos, sepáis, sepan
First off, to explain, the subjunctive, el subjuntivo, is something that expresses uncertainty, unreality, hypothetical situations, possibility, or philosophy. If you’re not sure if what you’re wanting to say is completely intact with certainty like: “He goes to the store.”, then you’re probably going to want to use the subjunctive.
Rule 1- to express wishes, hopes, desires. (Commonly used with verbs like esperar, querer, desear). Especially in the present subjunctive, it’s very common to see it expressed after the word “que”, NOT “qué”.
To help you to wrap your mind around this, think of the sentences as two separate parts. You have the indicative part(what you know for sure and is certain) and the probable/uncertain part(which could go anyway). The part of which you’d be unsure is the part followed after “que”. Thinking of it this way helped me to really grasp the concept of why they do it that way.
Ex. Espero que estés bien - I hope you are doing well.
Ex. Queremos que vengan a la fiesta. - We want them to come to the party.
Ex. Ella desea que nadie hable durante el examen. - She wishes/hopes nobody talks during the test.
Rule 2- to express doubt, disbelief, denial (dudar que, no creer que, negar que, etc)
Ex. Dudo que salga por la noche. - I doubt he goes out at night.
Ex. No crees que puedan hablar español. - You don’t think they can speak spanish.
Ex. Negamos que vosotros tengáis un problema. - We deny you have a problem.
Rule 3- Possiblity (es posible que/es probable que)
Ex. Es posible que vayamos al cine esta noche- It’s possible that we’ll go to the movies tonight.
Ex. Es probable que lea el periódico depues de trabajar. - It’s probably for me to read the newspaper after working
Rule 4- Requests and commands (pedir que, decir que, exigir que)
Ex. Te pido que me traigas unas servilletas - I’m asking you to bring me some napkins.
Ex. Ellos me dicen que lo haga. - They tell me to do it.
Ex. Siempre exigimos que compartan los marcadores con los demás. - We always demand that they share the markers with the others.
Rule 5- opinions (es bueno que, es malo que, es importante que, es fantastico que, es injusto que, etc)
Ex. Es importante que compres todo lo que necesitamos. - It’s important that you buy everything we need.
Ex. Es bueno que él ayude con su iglesia- It’s good that he helps out with his church.
Ex.Es normal que extrañes mi presencia.- It’s normal that you miss my presence.
Rule 6- Obligations and Suggestions/Recommendations (recomendar que, sugerir que, es mejor que, aconsejar que, es necesario que, hace falta que,
Ex. Recomiendo que lo pruebes. - I recommend you try it.
Ex Sugiero que lo llames esta noche. - I suggest you call him tonight.
Ex. Es mejor que se vayan. - It’d be best for them to go.
Ex. Me aconseja que lave el carro hoy. por que mañana va a llover. - He advises me to wash the car today because tomorrow it’s going to rain.
Ex.Es necesario que me ayudes.- It’s necessary for you to help me.
Ex. Hace falta que hablen con el jefe. - They need to speak with the boss.
Rule 7- Emotional Reactions (sentir que, lamentar que, gustar que, sorprender que, tener miedo (de) que)
Ex. Me gusta que jugues con los niños. - I like that you play with the children.
Ex. Me sorpende que corran tantas millas. - I’m surprised they run so many miles.
Ex. Tengo miedo (de) que no completemos el proyecto. - I fear we won’t complete the project.
Rule 8- Negation of perception (no digo que, no noto que, no me acuerdo que)
Ex. No digo que lo tengas. - I’m not saying you have it.
Ex. No notas que te mire así. - You can’t tell he looks at you like that.
Ex. No me acuerdo que lo hicieras. - I don’t remember that you had done that.
So this is basically how to form the Present subjunctive after “que”. I”ll post a few other smaller things about it later on to wrap it up. Then I’ll move on to the past subjunctive and you’ll be good to go!
I used www.notesinspanish.com to reference. They have an entire section where you can a complete list. I’ll be referring to that for my other posts as well.