The Present Subjunctive

The Subjunctive is not a tense but a mood. What does that mean? It is called a mood because it doesn't deal with factual reality but with opinions, feelings, suppositions, dreams and speculation. The Indicative deals with current or past reality. Some people say there is no Subjunctive in English but this isn't true. It is less apparent and less conscious than in Spanish.

For instance, if your mother has a cold the doctor might recommend that she drink 4 glasses of water a day. Normally, the conjugation is "She drinks"; but the Subjunctive form drops the "s". Another example is that the State requires that you be 21 years old to purchase alcohol. Or even, "If I were King, I would eat Ben & Jerry's ice cream daily." These are all examples of the Subjunctive Mood in English.

But in Spanish there are defined conjugations for it that are used frequently in everyday conversations. In Spanish, the Subjunctive represents the things we recommend or wish that someone else would do but haven't actually done yet. It encompasses things that are rhetorical, doubtful, emotional reactions and things we deny.

While conjugating verbs into the Subjunctive form is not too difficult, it is deciding when and where to use the Subjunctive that gets a little complicated. We will look at it slowly and determine the rules for its use in stages.

Although I expect that you are doing all of the exercises in the Workbook and the Lab Manual, I cannot stress enough the importance of doing so now. The Subjunctive is a form that does not have a simple counterpart in English that you can associate it with. The only way you can learn how the Subjunctive works is through practice. As you can imagine, the Subjunctive will form a substantial part of the Final Exam. So please be sure to do the exercises, self-correct them and feel free to ask me any questions you might have.

How to form the Present Subjunctive
[incl. practice on the Web!]

Introducing subjunctive and adverbial phrases

More Subjunctive and adverbial phrases

More practice with Adverbial Phrases

Indefinite Antecedents
referring to the unknown or uncertainties

Present Perfect Subjunctive
Past Perfect Subjunctive

Indirect Commands

Nosotros "Commands" -Suggestions-

When NOT to use the Subjunctive

The subjunctive is needed when we want to express a WEIRDO using the "que" conjunction with a subject change.
We use the present subjunctive to express a: (Click on a column heading below for more detail)

W Wishes, desires, Imperatives	Quiero que él.., Deseo que ella..., Necesito que usted..., Espero que tú...; Mando que..., insisto que... I Want or Need someone else to do something, I Order or Insist that someone to do something
E Emotion	Me alegro que..., me entristo que..., Me enojo que..., Me asusto que... I'm Happy, Sad, Angry or Scared, etc. that something or someone does something
I Impersonal observations	Es bueno que..., Es Importante que..., Es Posible que... It's good that.., It's important that.., It's possible that....
R Recomendations	Recomiendo que..., Sugiero que... I Recommend or Suggest that someone else do something
D Doubt, Denial, Disbelief	Dudo que.., No creo que.., ¿Crees que..?, niego que... I Doubt that, I Don't believe that..., Do you believe that...? I Deny that....
O Ojalá	Ojalá que... Let's hope to God that.., God willing that..,

Tal vez and Quizá(s) [perhaps, maybe] are expressions frequently used with the Subjunctive. It depends on how much you believe what you are saying. If you really feel doubtful about what you are suggesting (with Tal vez or Quizá) then use the subjunctive.

Back to the Verbs page!