Spanish 4.7. Present Subjunctive Tense I

All the tenses we have encountered so far were in the indicative mood. The indicative mood is what we use to express facts. This is the mood we encounter often. There are five moods in total in Spanish: infinitive, indicative, subjunctive, imperative, and conditional. The present subjunctive tense is used in Spanish to express opinion, possibility, and feelings such as fear, doubt, hope, desire, etc.

Conjugation

Remember that the present indicative is formed as follows:

	-ar ending hablar	-er ending comer	-ir ending vivir
yo	hablo	como	vivo
tú	hablas	comes	vives
él/ella/usted	habla	come	vive
nosotros/-as	hablamos	comemos	vivimos
vosotros/-as	habláis	coméis	vivís
ellos/ellas/ustedes	hablan	comen	viven

On the other hand, the present subjunctive tense is formed in Spanish as follows:

We begin from the first-person singular in the present indicative, i.e., “hablo,” “como,” “vivo,” etc., and we extract the stem “habl-,” “com-,” “viv-,” etc. Then, we add the endings shown in the table below. Note that verbs ending in “er” or “ir” are conjugated in the same way in the present subjunctive tense in Spanish.

	-ar ending hablar	-er ending comer	-ir ending vivir
yo	hable	coma	viva
tú	hables	comas	vivas
él/ella/usted	hable	coma	viva
nosotros/-as	hablemos	comamos	vivamos
vosotros/-as	habléis	comáis	viváis
ellos/ellas/ustedes	hablen	coman	vivan

Irregular Verbs in the “yo” Form in the Present Indicative

You must remember to use the stem from the first-person “yo” form in the present indicative, not the stem from the infinitive. This is especially important with verbs that are irregular in the first-person “yo” form in the present indicative. For example, use the stem from “yo tengo” to use the verb “tener” in the present subjunctive. Below are some examples:

	tener teng-	querer quier-	jugar jueg-	dormir duerm-	conocer conozc-
yo	tenga	quiera	juegue	duerma	conozca
tú	tengas	quieras	juegues	duermas	conozcas
él/ella/usted	tenga	quiera	juegue	duerma	conozca
nosotros/-as	tengamos	queramos	juguemos	durmamos	conozcamos
vosotros/-as	tengáis	queráis	juguéis	durmáis	conozcáis
ellos/ellas/ustedes	tengan	quieran	jueguen	duerman	conozcan

Notice that, in these examples, the verbs “querer,” “jugar,” and “dormir” change the conjugation stem in the “nosotros/-as” and “vosotros/-as” forms.

Because we start the conjugation from the stem of the “yo” form of the present indicative, the present subjunctive carries over the same stem change: “e” to “i,” “e” to “ie,” “o” to “ue,” “u” to “ue,” and “i” to “ie.” To form the present subjunctive, the “nosotros/-as” and “vosotros/-as” forms use the stem after removing these changes. Sometimes a slight change is applied, such as using the stem “durm-” instead of “dorm-” with the verb “dormir.”

Irregular Verbs in the Present Subjunctive

The following verbs are irregular in the subjunctive:

	ir	ser	estar	saber	dar	haber
yo	vaya	sea	esté	sepa	dé	haya
tú	vayas	seas	estés	sepas	des	hayas
él/ella/usted	vaya	sea	esté	sepa	dé	haya
nosotros/-as	vayamos	seamos	estemos	sepamos	demos	hayamos
vosotros/-as	vayáis	seáis	estéis	sepáis	deis	hayáis
ellos/ellas/ustedes	vayan	sean	estén	sepan	den	hayan

The subjunctive is usually used in subordinate clauses that use the conjunction “that,” where the main clause expresses opinions and feelings such as fear, doubt, hope, desire, etc.

	Examples
Impersonal opinion	Es importante que comas bien. It is important that you eat well.
Happiness	Me alegro de que estés bien. I’m glad you are well.
Doubt	Tengo dudas de que vaya a llover hoy. I doubt that it will rain today.
Hope	Espero que estés feliz. I hope that you are happy.
Desire	Quiero que estudies bien. I want you to study well.

Expressing Opinions

Knowing when to use the indicative mood and when to use the subjunctive mood when expressing an opinion in Spanish can be a little tricky. Nevertheless, these are the main guidelines:

Impersonal Opinions

For impersonal opinions, such as “it is important that …,” “it is good that …,” and “it is bad that …,” we generally use the subjunctive mood, for example:

Es importante que visites a tu familia.	It is important that you visit your family.
Es bueno que estés aquí hoy.	It is good that you are here today.

However, if the impersonal opinion expresses some sense of certainty, such as “it is true that …” and “it is obvious that …,” the indicative mood is used, for example:

Está claro que vamos a ganar este partido.	It is clear that we are going to win this match.
Es obvio que no estoy interesado.	It is obvious that I am not interested.
Es verdad que quiero salir hoy.	It is true that I want to go out today.

If the above expressions are in the negative, the subjunctive mood must be used, for example:

No es verdad que quiera salir hoy.

It is not true that I want to go out today.

Personal Opinions

If the main clause expresses an opinion in the negative, the subordinate clause is in the subjunctive mood, for example:

No pienso que esta casa sea muy grande.	I don’t think that this house is too big.
No creo que haya gente viviendo allí.	I don’t believe that there are people living there.
No me parece que ella hable español.	It doesn’t seem to me that she speaks Spanish.

If the main clause is in the affirmative, the subordinate clause must be in the indicative, not in the subjunctive mood, for example:

Pienso que esta casa es muy grande.	I think that this house is too big.
Creo que hay gente viviendo allí.	I believe that there are people living there.
Me parece que ella habla español.	It seems to me that she speaks Spanish.

Note also that it is the main clause that determines the use of the indicative or the subjunctive. For instance, in the sentence “Creo que ella no habla español,” we use the indicative because the main clause “Creo que” is in the affirmative.

Expressing Possibilities

Most expressions that express the possibility of something being one way or the other can use indicative or subjunctive mood without any preference, for example:

Tal vez salgo/salga hoy.	Perhaps I will go out today.
Quizás hablamos/hablemos mañana.	Maybe we talk tomorrow.
Probablemente voy/vaya al parque solo.	I will probably go to the park alone.
Posiblemente vienes/vengas tarde.	Possibly you will come late.

A notable exception that only uses the indicative is “a lo mejor” (maybe), for example:

No hay nadie aquí. A lo mejor están enel parque.

There is no one here. Maybe they are at the park.

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