Quiero que lo aprendas: the Present Subjunctive
s we saw in the previous article, the subjunctive mood is a verb mood used in Spanish to express hypothetical situations, desires, uncertainty, etc. In this article we will see regular and irregular conjugation in the present subjunctive and what we use the present subjunctive for in Spanish. Let's go!
Regular conjugation: it is obtained by removing the ending from infinitive verbs (-ar, -er, -ir) to obtain the stem and adding the following endings to it:
1st group: hablar (to speak).
yo hable
tú hables
él/ella/usted hable
nosotros/nosotras hablemos
vosotros/vosotras habléis
ellos/ellas/ustedes hablen
2nd group: comer (to eat).
yo coma
tú comas
él/ella/usted coma
nosotros/nosotras comamos
vosotros/vosotras comáis
ellos/ellas/ustedes coman
3rd group: vivir (to live).
yo viva
tú vivas
él/ella/usted viva
nosotros/nosotras vivamos
vosotros/vosotras viváis
ellos/ellas/ustedes vivan
As you can see, the endings for the 2nd and 3rd groups are the same.
Irregular conjugation: there are many irregular verbs in the present subjunctive. We will see below the most frequently used ones in the language.
Completely irregular verbs.
Ser (to be): yo sea, tú seas, él/ella/usted sea, nosotros/nosotras seamos, vosotros/vosotras seáis, ellos/ellas/ustedes sean
Ir (to go): vaya, vayas, vaya, vayamos, vayáis, vayan
Haber (to have, auxiliary): haya, hayas, haya, hayamos, hayáis, hayan
Saber (to know): sepa, sepas, sepa, sepamos, sepáis, sepan
Estar (to be): esté, estés, esté, estemos, estéis, estén
Dar (to give): dé, des, dé, demos, deis, den
Verbs with vowel changes.
Change e -> ie, o -> ue.
These changes occur in all persons except the 1st and 2nd plural.
e -> ie Pensar (to think): piense, pienses, piense, pensemos, penséis, piensen
e -> ie Cerrar (to close):cierre, cierres, cierre, cerremos, cerréis, cierren
o -> ue Poder (to can):pueda, puedas, pueda, podamos, podáis, puedan
o -> ue Contar (to tell):cuente, cuentes, cuente, contemos, contéis, cuenten
Other common examples: Querer (to want), Sentir (to feel), Volver (to return), Jugar (to play).
The case of dormir (to sleep): duerma, duermas, duerma, durmamos, durmáis, duerman.
The case of oler (to smell): huela, huelas, huela, olamos, oláis, huelan.
Change e -> i.
This change (e -> i) occurs in all persons without exception.
Pedir (to ask for): pida, pidas, pida, pidamos, pidáis, pidan
Seguir (to follow): siga, sigas, siga, sigamos, sigáis, sigan
Repetir (to repeat): repita, repitas, repita, repitamos, repitáis, repitan
Vestir (to dress): vista, vistas, vista, vistamos, vistáis, vistan
Other common examples: Servir (to serve), Decir (to say), Competir (to compete).
Verbs with change ui -> uy.
Huir (to flee): huya, huyas, huya, huyamos, huyáis, huyan.
Other common examples: Concluir (to conclude), Construir (to build), Contribuir (to contribute), Destruir (to destroy), Influir (to influence)
Verbs with consonant changes.
These verbs are irregular in the first person of the present indicative (yo), and that irregularity extends to the entire subjunctive.
Verbs with -go in “yo” in the present indicative.
Tener (to have, tengo): tenga, tengas, tenga, tengamos, tengáis, tengan
Venir (to come, vengo): venga, vengas, venga, vengamos, vengáis, vengan
Salir (to go out, salgo): salga, salgas, salga, salgamos, salgáis, salgan
Poner (to put, pongo): ponga, pongas, ponga, pongamos, pongáis, pongan
Hacer (to do, make, hago): haga, hagas, haga, hagamos, hagáis, hagan
Decir (to say, digo): diga, digas, diga, digamos, digáis, digan
Oír (to hear, oigo): oiga, oigas, oiga, oigamos, oigáis, oigan
Caer (to fall, caigo): caiga, caigas, caiga, caigamos, caigáis, caigan
Traer (to bring, traigo): traiga, traigas, traiga, traigamos, traigáis, traigan
Verbs with -zco in yo (Ending -acer, -ecer, -ocer, -ucir).
Conocer (to know, conozco): conozca, conozcas, conozca, conozcamos, conozcáis, conozcan
Crecer (to grow up, crezco): crezca, crezcas, crezca, crezcamos, crezcáis, crezcan
Nacer (to be born, nazco): nazca, nazcas, nazca, nazcamos, nazcáis, nazcan
Traducir (to translate, traduzco): traduzca, traduzcas, traduzca, traduzcamos, traduzcáis, traduzcan
Producir (to produce, produzco): produzca, produzcas, produzca, produzcamos, produzcáis, produzcan
Some verbs change their spelling to maintain the sound:
Buscar (to look for, c→qu): busque, busques, busque, busquemos, busquéis, busquen
Llegar (to arrive, g→gu): llegue, llegues, llegue, lleguemos, lleguéis, lleguen
Broadly speaking, following these rules you will be able to conjugate any irregular verb in the present indicative. Of course, I’m not going to list all the irregular verbs conjugated here, it wouldn’t make sense since finding their conjugation is not difficult at all.
Uses.
Expressing desires: with verbs like querer, desear, esperar, and expressions like ojalá.
Quiero que vengas a mi casa (I want you to come to my house).
Espero que tengas un buen día (I hope you have a good day).
Deseo que seas muy feliz (I wish you to be very happy).
Ojalá llueva mañana (I hope it rains tomorrow).
Expressing doubts or uncertainty: with dudar, creer, pensar, no estar seguro de, etc.
Dudo que llegue a tiempo (I doubt he/she will arrive on time).
No estoy seguro de que sea verdad (I’m not sure it’s true).
No creo que llueva mañana (I don’t think it will rain tomorrow).
In these cases, with creer, pensar, estar seguro de, etc., if the sentence is affirmative we use the indicative:
Estoy seguro de que es verdad (I’m sure it’s true).
Creo que mañana lloverá (I think it will rain tomorrow).
Expressing emotions: with verbs like alegrarse, gustar, encantar, molestar, preocupar, temer, tener miedo.
Me alegra que estés aquí (I’m glad you’re here).
Me gusta que cocines para mí (I like that you cook for me).
Me preocupa que no estudies suficiente (I’m worried you don’t study enough).
Temo que haya problemas (I’m afraid there will be problems).
Giving orders, advice and recommendations: with verbs like aconsejar, recomendar, sugerir, pedir, ordenar, prohibir, permitir.
Te aconsejo que estudies más (I advise you to study more).
El médico recomienda que hagas ejercicio (The doctor recommends you exercise).
Te pido que seas puntual (I ask you to be punctual).
Te prohibo que fumes aquí (I forbid you to smoke here).
Expressing necessity, possibility or importance: with impersonal expressions such as: es necesario, es importante, es posible, es probable, es imposible, es mejor, es bueno, es malo.
Es necesario que hables con ella (It’s necessary that you talk to her).
Es importante que sepas la verdad (It’s important that you know the truth).
Es posible que llueva esta tarde (It’s possible it will rain this afternoon).
Es mejor que salgas temprano (It’s better that you leave early).
Expressing future actions: when there is uncertainty about when they will occur. With conjunctions like cuando, en cuanto, tan pronto como, antes de que, después de que, hasta que.
Cuando llegues, llámame (When you arrive, call me).
Te llamaré en cuanto tenga noticias (I’ll call you as soon as I have news).
Espera aquí hasta que yo vuelva (Wait here until I come back).
To express purpose or goal: with conjunctions like para que, a fin de que.
Cocino para que tú comas (I cook so that you can eat).
Hablo despacio a fin de que me comprendas (I speak slowly so that you understand me).
To express condition or concession: with conjunctions like: aunque, a menos que, con tal de que, sin que, en caso de que.
Aunque llueva, iremos a la playa (Even if it rains, we’ll go to the beach).
Iré a menos que esté enfermo (I’ll go unless I’m sick).
Hazlo sin que nadie te vea (Do it without anyone seeing you).
En caso de que necesites ayuda, llámame (In case you need help, call me).
In subordinate clauses with negative or indefinite antecedent.
Busco un apartamento que tenga tres habitaciones (I’m looking for an apartment that has three bedrooms).
No hay nadie que sepa la respuesta (There’s no one who knows the answer).
¿Conoces a alguien que hable japonés? (Do you know anyone who speaks Japanese?).
We’ve reached the end of this article. I know it seems like a lot of information, but the positive thing about the subjunctive is that it’s used so frequently in the language that with practice one can get used to using it quickly. And I repeat what I wrote in the previous article: the subjunctive is a frequent source of errors in learning the Spanish language, and moreover errors that tend to fossilize: if you say quiero que vienes a mi casa mañana instead of quiero que vengas a mi casa mañana it’s very likely that the message will be understood, and because of how we Spanish speakers are culturally in general, it’s very likely that this error won’t be corrected. That’s why I repeat my advice, which I myself apply with the people I do language exchanges with: ask the people you interact with in your target languages to correct your errors. I have applied it with good results, although many times the native speakers of my target languages don’t know how to explain to me the grammatical rule by which I made the error I made. And at the risk, of course, of making an error typical of a native speaker, which also exist. But in most cases you will be guided toward the correct path. Here I leave you exercises to practice this topic. In the next article in this series we will see the imperfect subjunctive, a verb tense that is also used very frequently in spoken language. Thanks for reading!
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