Subjective Subjunctive

The subjunctive gives English speakers lots of problems. Mostly because it is not a visible "tense" in English, but rather a "mood" or a personal choice.

Example in English: I want that you come with me to the party.

Example in Spanish: Quiero que vengas conmigo a la fiesta.

The above sentence has two verbs: want and come. They both look like they are just present tense verbs to any English speaker. It's the underlying "mood" or personal choice that distinguishes between whether a verb is subjunctive or not.

In the example above, the first verb (want) is in the indicative "mood" while it is also in the present tense. The second verb (come) is in the subjunctive "mood," but also in the present tense. Come and come are spelled the same way in English whether they are in the indicative or subjunctive "mood." But in Spanish, the indicative present tense would be vienes (come) whereas the subjuctive present tense would be vengas (come). There is quite a difference between vienes and vengas. Don't you agree?

For this very reason English speakers have a difficult time with subjunctive. On a daily basis, it is very hard to tell when we are using it in English because there are no typographical or auditory cues to alert us. Spanish has both of these alerts: typographical and auditory. Thus it makes it much easier to master when to use it and when not to at an early age.

English speakers must learn the different situations for using the subjunctive. So to speak, one would consider it subjective. Why? Because most times using the subjunctive will be from the speaker's perception. Going back to the example above, the speaker does not know for sure (100 percent positive and without any doubt) whether the listener will come to the party with the speaker. There is some doubt and a possibility the listener will not come to the party at all or with the speaker. The perception from the speaker's point of view is subjective.

Here is a quick chart outlining when you would use the subjunctive vs. indicative moods:

Subjuntive	Indicative
doubt	no doubt (certainty)
denial	no denial
uncertainty	certainty
emotion	emotion (no subject changes)
indefinite	definite
non-existent	existent
conditional actions in the future	completed or habitual actions
impersonal expressions with subjects	impersonal expressions (generally speaking)
verbs of choice, volition	verbs of choice, volition (no subject changes)
impossibility	possible
improbability	probable, definitely

This summer, I'm going to explore the subjunctive in greater detail. We'll take a closer look at each one of these indicators of the subjunctive to figure out why Spanish speakers use it. If you have specific questions, feel free to post a comment below.

¡Hasta luego!

~Keith