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The Subjunctive: How?

The Present Subjunctive

To conjugate a verb in the present tense subjunctive mood, we're going to do something a little weird. First we conjugate in the present tense indicative "yo" form, then we drop the "-o" ending, and then we add the following endings:

Take a look at the endings. You may notice they look very similar to the present tense indicative endings except that they've been switched; what look like "-er" endings are now used for "-ar" verbs, and what look like "-ar" endings are now the endings of both "-er" and "-ir" verbs. Notice, however, that there is no "-o" ending for the "yo" form.

Some examples:

hablar → hablo → habl-

Me alegro que ella hable español.
I'm happy that she speaks Spanish.

correr → corro → corr-

Esperamos que tú corras rápidamente.
We hope that you run fast.

vivir → vivo → viv-

Ellos dudan que vivamos en Guatemala.
They doubt that we live in Guatemala.

Based on these examples, you might be tempted to shorten the procedure a bit to just "remove the infinitive ending and add the subjunctive ending" but that doesn't always work. Consider:

tener → tengo → teng-

Es necesario que tú tengas tu tarea contigo.
It is necessary that you have your homework with you.

decir → digo → dig-

¡Quiero que ustedes me digan la verdad!
I want you to tell me the truth!

conocer → conozco → conozc-

Es importante que tú conozcas bien a tus amigos.
It is important that you know your friends well.

Because there are "-go" verbs and "-zco" verbs and many other verbs with unusual "yo" form conjugations, you must follow the rule: first conjugate in the "yo" form, then drop the "-o", and then add the appropriate ending. Verbs with irregular "yo" forms keep that irregularity in all of the present subjunctive forms. Some examples:

Spelling Changes

As you may recall from the preterite, switching "-a" endings with "-e" endings causes some pronunciation problems that need to be solved by changing the spelling of the stem. The verbs we need to pay attention to are the usual suspects:

Some examples:

Es necesario que indiques tu preferencia.
Es importante que lleguemos temprano.
Ellos quieren que yo almuerce a las doce.

In the first two sentences above, if we didn't change the spellings we'd be left with "indices" and "llegemos" and the pronunciation of their stems would no longer be consistent with their infinitive forms, "indicar" and "llegar." In the case of "almuerce," anytime we can use a "c" instead of a "z," we should.

They are fairly infrequent, but you also need to keep an eye open for "-guar" verbs. They will need a "u &rarr ü" spelling change. For example, "atestiguar" ("to testify"):

La policía espera que él atestigüe.

In order to keep the "gw" sound, we need to use a "ü" (rather than a "u") once we switch from an "-a" ending to an "-e" ending.

Stem Changers

All "-ar" and "-er" verbs that have a stem change in the indicative will also have a stem change in the subjunctive. That stem change will follow the same pattern as the indicative, which is to say that the stem will not change in the "nosotros" or "vosotros" forms.

On the other hand, the stems of "-ir" stem-changing verbs will have an additional change in the "nosotros" and"vosotros" forms. Stem-changing "o→ue" verbs will also have an "o→u" change; stem-changing "e→ie" verbs will also have an "e→i" change; and stem-changing "e→i" verbs will have an "e→i" change throughout the conjugations.

Irregulars

It would be any fun if there weren't irregulars, right? In the case of the present subjunctive, there's good reason for them. If you know that we first conjugate in the "yo" form, and then drop the "-o" ending, what do you do with these verbs: "dar," "estar," "ir," "saber," and "ser"? None of their "yo" forms end in "-o" ("doy," "estoy," "voy," "sé," and "soy"). Because of that, each of these verbs is completely irregular.

Notice that the accent marks on all of these verbs are consistent with their indicative conjugations with the one exception. In the case of "dar," the "yo" and "él/ella/Ud." forms add what looks to be an unnecessary accent mark. The reason for this accent is to distinguish the verb conjugation, "dé" from the preposition, "de."

That takes care of the present tense, but remember that the subjunctive is a mood, which means we can also use it in other tenses as well. So what else do we need to know?

The Imperfect Subjunctive (The Past Subjunctive)

Before you have flashbacks to the nightmare of learning the difference between the imperfect and the preterite, a bit of good news; there is no "preterite subjunctive." Any time you need to use the subjunctive mood in the past tense, you will use the imperfect subjunctive (sometimes called the "past subjunctive"). There's no need to worry about whether the action happened once or repeatedly.

How do we form the imperfect subjunctive? Similar to the present subjunctive, we're going to do something that seems a little odd. First we conjugate in the third-person ("ellos/ellas/Uds.") preterite indicative, then we drop the "-ron" ending, then we add these endings:

That's not a typo on the "nosotros" form. Once you conjugate in the "ellos/ellas/Uds." form and drop the "-ron", you will be left with a vowel (either an "a" or an "e"). You need to add an accent to that vowel and then add "-ramos."

Some examples:

hablar → hablaron → habla-

Me alegré que ella hablara español.
I was happy that she spoke Spanish.

correr → corrieron → corrie-

Esperábamos que tú corrieras rápidamente.
We were hoping that you ran fast.

vivir → vivieron → vivie-

Ellos dudaron que viviéramos en Guatemala.
They doubted that we lived in Guatemala.

Irregular Imperfect Subjunctive Verbs?

The good news: technically speaking, there are no irregular imperfect subjunctive conjugations. The conjugation rule is consistently applied to every verb. The bad news: as you may recall, there are many irregular preterite conjugations. Since the preterite conjugations are the basis of the imperfect subjunctive there are a few issues worth reviewing: spelling changes, "-ir" stem changing verbs, and irregulars in the preterite.

Some examples:

leer → leyeron → leye-

El maestro quería que leyéramos el capítulo siete.
The teacher wanted us to read chapter seven.

dormir → durmieron → durmie-

Nos sorprendió que ella durmiera tanto.
It surprised us that she slept so much.

estar → estuvieron → estuvie-

Me molestaba que ellas estuvieran allí todos los días.
It bothered me that they were there every day.

For a complete listing of preterite irregulars, be sure to review The Preterite Tense and pay special attention to the "ellos/ellas/Uds." forms.

"-se" Endings

They aren't as widely used but there is another possible set of imperfect subjunctive endings that you may see or hear in Spanish. The verbs are conjugated in exactly the same way; only the endings are different. These conjugations mean the same thing; it's completely up to you which form to use but you're more likely to be understood with the "-ra" forms.

Here are the "-se" endings, and the verb "hablar" conjugated with both the "-ra" endings and the "-se" endings for the sake of comparison.

Other Tenses in The Subjunctive Mood

We can also form other conjugations in the subjunctive mood. Following are some more subjunctive possibilities.

The Present Perfect Subjunctive

We can also form perfect tenses in the subjunctive. To conjugate in the present perfect subjunctive, we simply conjugate "haber" in the present tense subjunctive and combine it with a past participle.

For example:

Yo dudo que Carlos haya hecho su tarea.
I doubt that Carlos has done his homework.

The Pluperfect Subjunctive

And to conjugate in the pluperfect subjunctive, we conjugate "haber" in the imperfect subjunctive and use it with a past participle.

For example:

Mi familia esperaba que nosotros hubiéramos llegado a tiempo.
My family hoped that we had arrived on time.

The Future Subjunctive

There is (or more accurately "was") a future subjunctive. It is not used much anymore and is mostly found in literature. The present subjunctive is now used in its place. The future subjunctive is formed the same way as imperfect subjunctive but with a different set of endings. Here are the future subjunctive endings, and the verb "hablar" conjugated in future subjunctive.

The only difference between the future and the future subjunctive for some conjugations is only an accent mark (or lack thereof).