Present Subjunctive or Presente de Subjuntivo

The Subjunctive

The subjunctive is a tense that we do not have, as such, in English. It can be loosely interpreted as things that we may or might do, if something else happens. It is also used when their is a change of character. Sounds dodgy, but read through the steps and the charts below for proper help.

Also, the Subjunctive is used to form most of the Imperative Tense (which is coming a bit later), so having a good knowledge of the Subjunctive can help you to order people around! To help you keep things straight I am going to do these two Tenses separately, so the Imperative part of the uses of the Subjunctive will not be here.

So, the Subjunctive is used:

After a verb that shows some kind of a wish, preference, insistence, request or suggestion.

• "I want Joe to eat it." "Quiero que José lo haga." In English we can use the infinitive form of the second verb, "to do it". In Spanish, the introduction of "que" because of the new clause "José". As above, the verb "querer" (shown as "quiero") expresses a wish. If there were no change in subject, then the sentence would go as it does in English: "Quiero hacerlo." "I want to do it." Other examples of the types of verbs that are mentioned above that require the subjunctive afterwards (unless of course there is no change in subject) are: "Insistir" "To insist" "Preferir" "To prefer" and "Pedir" "To ask".

After a verb that expresses doubt, fear, hope, joy, sorrow or another such emotion.

• "I hope that he doesn't go out." "Espero que no salga."
• "I fear that there may be a problem." "Temo que haya un problema."

After certain impersonal expressions that show doubt, necessity, urgency, importance, regret or possibility. The subjunctive, is not used in English in the case of some of the following examples.

• "It is a shame that Bob isn't eating." "Es lástima que Bob no coma."
• "Its possible that Jeff is here." "Es possible que Jeff no esté aquí."
• "It is urgent that Bill waits." "Es urgente que Bill espere."
• "It is important that Richard brings it." "Es importante que Richard lo traiga."

After certain phrases that are related to time: antes (de) que, después (de) que, cuando, en cuanto, hasta que, mientras (que). The Subjunctive is used after these phrases when the time that is being referred to is indefinite or will take place in the future. However, if the action has already been completed, then the Present Tense is used.

• "I will stay until (that) he finishes." "Me quedaré hasta que termine él."
• "Let's go before (that) he arrives." "Vámonos antes que llegue."
• "Whilst (that) we are here, you can talk to me." "Mientras que estémos aquí, puedes hablar conmigo."

After certain phrases that express a condition or purpose: a menos que, con tal que, para que, a fin de que, sin que, en caso (de) que and such like.

• "I want it so that I can eat." "Lo quiero para que pueda yo comer."
• I am going unless he calls me." "Me voy a menos que me llame."

After certain adverbs: acaso, quizá and tal vez."

• Maybe he will see us tonight." "Acaso nos vea está noche."

In a sentence where the thing that you are talking about is someone or something that is indefinite, vague, nonexistent or indeed, negative.

• "I am looking for a meal that is (may be) nice." "Busco una comida que sea buena." The article, the meal may or may not exist, and the sentence has a vagueness. The meal is indefinite.
• "Is there anybody here who knows me." "¿Hay alguien aquí que me conozca." The "somebody" is vague, we don't know who it is. It is indefinite so we use the Subjunctive.
• "There is nobody who makes me laugh." "No hay nadie que me haga reir." The "nobody" is nonexistent, so the following verb must be the in the Subjunctive.

After por más que or por mucho que. No matter how (much).

• "No matter how much I try to forget her..." "Por más que trata olvidarla..."

The last thing to remember is that the Subjunctive is never used in Spanish after "si", when "si" means "if" or "whether" (not "yes"). (This would appear to be the most obvious place to use the Subjunctive but it's not.)

Here's how to form the Subjunctive then:

Generally, for Verbs that are regular in the Present Tense, the pattern is below, and is simple to form. You could say that the Present Tense endings of the "-AR" verbs go on to the "-ER" and "-IR" verbs. (Except for the First Person person singular). Then the "-ER" and "-IR" verbs give their Present Tense endings to the "-AR" verbs. (Again, except for the First Person singular."

This is not the best rule, though. There is one steadfast rule, for when you are using the Subjunctive. For any Verb with any ending ("-AR", "-ER" or "-IR") take the First Person singular of any verb in the Present Indicative (Present Tense) and take off the ending for example "DORMIR=DUERMO so take off the O. Then add the appropriate Subjunctive ending (any ending) and there you have the Subjunctive. As with DORMIR, you can see that it doesn't matter if you have a verb that is irregular in the Present Tense, the rule still applies. It is still best to use this rule when you are forming in your head, even if you think the Verb that you are using is regular. To show you that the rule really does work, here are some Verbs that are irregular in the Present Tense that still follow the rule.

N.B As we have found with other tenses, the endings are not irregular it is the base that can change.

*This Verb changes again, because the First Person Plural and the Second Person Plural are the ones that keep the regular base in the Present Tense.

So there we have the Subjunctive. The next Tense will be the Imperfect Subjunctive which is the Imperfect version of the Present Subjunctive.

Go To Next Verb - Imperfect Subjunctive

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