The imperfect subjunctive: -ra and -se forms

At B1 you used the present subjunctive after wishes, feelings, doubt and impersonal expressions: quiero que vengas (The subjunctive for wishes and requests: quiero que, ojalá, The subjunctive after feelings: me alegra que, siento que). When the trigger itself is in the past (or the conditional), Spanish normally moves the subjunctive into the past too. That past form is the imperfect subjunctive (pretérito imperfecto de subjuntivo).

• Mi jefa quería que terminara el informe antes del viernes.My boss wanted me to finish the report before Friday.
• Me sorprendió que nadie dijera nada en la reunión.I was surprised that nobody said anything in the meeting.

How to form it: start from the preterite

There is one rule and no exceptions. Take the ellos form of the preterite (Preterite of regular verbs, Irregular preterites: ser/ir, tener, estar, hacer, poder, poner, venir), remove -ron, and add the endings. Spanish has two complete sets of endings, the -ra set and the -se set.

The nosotros form always carries a written accent on the vowel before the ending: habláramos, comiéramos, fuéramos, hiciésemos.

Because it comes from the preterite, every irregular preterite carries straight over:

Notice the stem changes of -ir verbs (pidieron, durmieron) and the spelling y of leyeron, oyeron, construyeron. After j there is no i: dijeron → dijera, trajeron → trajera, condujeron → condujera.

When to use it

1. After a trigger in the past or the conditional. The triggers are the same as for the present subjunctive; only the time frame changes. (The full rule is in Which subjunctive? Sequence of tenses.)

• Les pedí que hablasen más despacio.I asked them to speak more slowly.
• No creía que fuera tan difícil encontrar piso.I didn't think it would be so hard to find a flat.
• Era importante que todos estuviésemos de acuerdo.It was important for all of us to agree.
• Mis padres me aconsejaron que estudiara Derecho.My parents advised me to study law.
• Fue una pena que no pudieras venir a la cena.It was a shame you couldn't come to the dinner.

2. After ojalá, for wishes that are unlikely or contrary to fact. Ojalá + present subjunctive is a real hope (ojalá venga = I hope he comes). Ojalá + imperfect subjunctive is a wish you don't expect to come true, like English I wish + past.

• Ojalá tuviera más tiempo libre.I wish I had more free time.

3. Hypotheses after si, covered in Hypotheses: si tuviera, iría (si tuviera dinero, viajaría), and after como si, in como si + imperfect subjunctive.

4. Politeness. Quisiera (and less often pudiera, debiera) softens a request, a little more formally than querría or me gustaría. Only the -ra form works here.

• Quisiera hablar con la directora, por favor.I'd like to speak to the director, please.

-ra or -se?

In all the subordinate uses above, the two forms are interchangeable: quería que vinieras and quería que vinieses mean exactly the same. In everyday speech -ra is more frequent, especially in Latin America, where -se sounds bookish to many speakers. In Spain both are heard in conversation and -se is common in writing. Recognise both and use whichever you like, but be consistent within a sentence.

Two uses prefer -ra: polite quisiera (only -ra), and hubiera standing in for habría in the result of a past hypothesis (Past hypotheses: si hubiera sabido, habría venido; hubiese is sometimes heard there too, but hubiera is the form grammars recommend).

Latin America

The forms are the same everywhere, except that vosotros is replaced by ustedes: Me alegré de que vinieran (ustedes). The -ra form dominates in speech across Latin America.

Common mistakes

• Quería que vienes or Quería que vengas: a past trigger usually needs the imperfect subjunctive: Quería que vinieras.
• dijiera, trajiera: verbs with a j preterite drop the i: dijera, trajera.
• teniera, hacera: build from the preterite stem, not the infinitive: tuviera, hiciera.
• tuvieramos: the nosotros form needs its accent: tuviéramos, tuviésemos.
• Quisiese un café, por favor: polite requests use only quisiera.