The present subjunctive: forms

This lesson starts the most important grammar topic of B1. Before any tables, two ideas.

What is a "mood"?

You know that a tense tells you when something happens: present, past, future. A mood tells you how the speaker presents it: as a fact, as a command, or as something wished, doubted or felt about.

Spanish has three moods:

• The indicative presents things as facts or real events. Every tense you have learned so far is indicative: hablo, hablé, hablaba, hablaré.
• The imperative gives commands: ¡Habla! (Affirmative commands with tú).
• The subjunctive presents things that are not stated as fact: things someone wants, asks for, hopes, doubts, fears, or reacts to emotionally.

What is the subjunctive for?

The subjunctive almost always appears in the second half of a sentence, after que, when the first half expresses a wish, a feeling, a doubt or a judgement. Compare:

• Sé que hablas inglés. = I know you speak English. (a fact: indicative)
• Quiero que hables inglés. = I want you to speak English. (a wish: subjunctive)

In the second sentence, you are not saying that the person speaks English, only that you want it. That "not stated as real" quality is what triggers the subjunctive.

English has a few traces of it: I insist that he be on time, If I were you. In Spanish it is everyday grammar, used constantly.

The next lessons cover each trigger: wishes (The subjunctive for wishes and requests: quiero que, ojalá), feelings (The subjunctive after feelings: me alegra que, siento que), doubt (Doubt and denial: no creo que vs creo que), judgements (es importante que, es verdad que) and future time with cuando (Cuando + subjunctive for the future). This lesson is about the forms.

How to form it: three steps

1. Take the yo form of the present indicative: hablo, como, vivo.
2. Remove the -o: habl-, com-, viv-.
3. Add the endings with the "opposite" vowel: -ar verbs take e, -er and -ir verbs take a.

The yo and él forms are the same, so a subject is sometimes added for clarity.

• Quiero que hables con tu hermano.I want you to talk to your brother.
• Espero que comas bien en el viaje.I hope you eat well on the trip.
• Es importante que viváis cerca del trabajo.It's important that you live close to work.
• Mis padres quieren que estudiemos más.My parents want us to study more.
• Necesito que me escuches.I need you to listen to me.
• Prefiero que no fumen aquí.I'd rather they didn't smoke here.

Why start from "yo"? Irregular yo forms carry over

Starting from the yo form means that the irregular yo forms you learned in Irregular yo forms: hago, pongo, salgo, traigo, conozco and Tener, venir, decir: irregular in two ways automatically give you the whole subjunctive:

• Es mejor que traigas tu ordenador.It's better if you bring your laptop.
• Ojalá venga mucha gente a la fiesta.I hope lots of people come to the party.

Stem-changing verbs, spelling changes and the six fully irregular verbs are in Irregular present subjunctives.

Same subject? Use the infinitive

The subjunctive is used when the second half has a different subject. If the same person wants and does, use the infinitive:

• Quiero ir. = I want to go.
• Quiero que vayas. = I want you to go.

Latin America

The forms are identical; ustedes forms (hablen, coman) replace vosotros forms. In voseo regions (Argentina, Uruguay) you may hear stressed forms like hablés; they are covered at C2.

Common mistakes

• Quiero que hablas: a wish needs the subjunctive: Quiero que hables.
• Quiero que yo vaya: same subject, so use the infinitive: Quiero ir.
• Keeping the indicative vowel: quiero que habla is the indicative. Swap it: -ar → e (que hable), -er/-ir → a (que coma).
• que tena, que poná: start from the yo form: tenga, ponga.
• Confusing hable (subjunctive) with hablé (I spoke): the accent changes the tense and the person.