Make a Wish

As I mentioned before, the subjunctive is not a tense, but rather a mood. It has its own tenses for present, imperfect (past) and future just like the indicative. Therefore, it is not a tense.

One aspect for using the subjunctive is expressing wishes, desires, hopes, and dreams. You would not use
the indicative because that is grounded in reality and certainty. Wishes and the like are part of the uncertain and unreal because they have not happened yet and there is a chance they will never happen. I by no means intend to be a buzz-kill, but where there are wishes, there is improbability -- thus the subjunctive should be used.

Some verbs that express wishes, desires, hopes and dreams are: desear (to desire), querer (to want), esperar, (to hope), buscar (to look for), pedir (to request, to ask for), and agradecer (to be grateful for). Of course there are many more out there that you may use, but these are some common ones that will trigger the use of the subjunctive.

To begin, one of the "wish" verbs must be conjugated to the subject that is doing the wishing, wanting or desiring. Next, a relative pronoun such as que (that), como (how), donde (wherever), quien (who), cuando (when), cuyo(s) (whose), and cuya(s) (whose). Relative pronouns will explain a bit more about a person, place or thing. For example, "a person who knows mathematics" has the relative pronoun of "who" because what followed it gave more information about the person.

Finally, the second half of the sentence may have another subject or it may use the same subject. The second subject is for the person, place or thing that is being wished for to provide additional information about it. That second verb will use the subjunctive.

Let's bring this all together with some examples:

Yo busco a una persona	quien	concine comida española.
Nosotros deseamos una casa	que	tenga una piscina.
Ellas quieren parar	donde	puedan.
Tú esperas	que	nos casemos pronto.

The first example in the chart above says that I am looking for a person who cooks Spanish food. The reason we use the subjunctive is because there is uncertainty as to whether or not such a person will be found. Obviously there are people out there who cook Spanish food, but the question is whether or not the subject "I" will find him or her.

In the second example, it says that we wish/desire a house that has a pool. Like the first example, obviously there are homes that have pools; however, we are unsure that we will be able to find one. Because of the doubt, we use the subjunctive.

For the third example in the chart, I tricked you in that the subject for both verbs is the same subject. The example reads: They want to stop wherever they can. The uncertainty lies with whether or not they can stop at all. Perhaps they are dependent upon a particular mode of transportation or other people taking them as to when they will be able to stop. They might be at the whim of others. Their preference is to be able to stop when they choose, but can they? That is the ultimate question and why we use the subjunctive for that second verb.

Finally, in the last example which reads: You hope that we marry soon, casts doubt onto whether that marriage will happen soon or more in the future. Who knows what history the couple has had in the past. Maybe there is a chance they won't marry at all. Never the less, it is still a desire of one of the two people, but that second verb uses the subjunctive to convey the uncertainty because it hasn't happened yet. It is not because one of the people has doubts about the marriage (though that could be the case), but you might be reading a bit much into it.

To sum up this use of the subjunctive, whenever you are talking about wishes, desires, wants, etc. and you are discussing that wish, desire or want, you must use the subjunctive. Even when you are talking about wishes in the past, you would use the subjunctive to convey that doubt or uncertainty about the reality of the wish. So with that, espero que le vaya bien.(I hope that you travel well.)

¡Hasta luego!
~Keith

Subjunctive in the Present

I thought that before I get too far along with when and how to use the subjunctive, I would spend a little bit of time on how to form the subjunctive. I'll start with the present indicative tense.

A great way to think of forming the Spanish subjunctive is imagine a place where right-side-up is up-side-down and right is left and up is down -- everything is the opposite. That's basically what you are doing with your subject endings.

For verbs that end in -AR, you want to first conjugate the verb in first person (Yo form), then add the appropriate opposite ending for the subject you are using.

Example:  bailar (to dance)

First person present tense (Yo form): bailo

Remove the -o ending and add the appropriate opposite subject ending:

Yo	-e	Nosotros, Nosotras	-emos
Tú	-es	Vosotros, Vosotras	-éis
El, Ella, Vd.	-e	Ellos, Ellas, Vds.	-en

Subjunctive conjugation: baile, bailes, baile, bailemos, bailéis, bailen

Both -ER and -IR verbs use the same endings and like the above -AR verbs, also conjugate in the first person (Yo form), drop the -o ending and add the subjunctive ending as follows.

Examples:  comer (to eat)  vivir (to live)

First person present tense (Yo form): como  vivo

Remove the -o ending and add the appropriate opposite subject ending:

Yo	-a	Nosotros, Nosotras	-amos
Tú	-as	Vosotros, Vosotras	-áis
El, Ella, Vd.	-a	Ellos, Ellas, Vds.	-an

Subjunctive conjugation for comer: coma, comas, coma, comamos, comáis, coman

Subjunctive conjugation for vivir: viva, vivas, viva, vivamos, viváis, vivan

The subjunctive for irregular verbs are done pretty much the same way as above. First conjugate the verb paying attention to any stem changes in the verb or unusual stem spelling changes when conjugating them. Then remove the -o ending and replace it with the opposite subject ending you want to use in the above charts for -AR, -ER or -IR verbs. Remember that stem-changing verbs do not change spelling in the Nosotros, Nosotras, Vosotros, or Vosotras forms.

Examples:

recomendar (to recommend)
Yo recomiende	Nosotros, Nosotras recomendemos
Tú recomiendes	Vosotros, Vosotras recomendéis
El, Ella, Vd. recomiende	Ellos, Ellas, Vds. recomienden

recordar (to remember)
Yo recuerde	Nosotros, Nosotras recordemos
Tú recuerdes	Vosotros, Vosotras recordéis
El, Ella, Vd. recuerde	Ellos, Ellas, Vds. recuerden

entender (to understand)
Yo entienda	Nosotros, Nosotras entendamos
Tú entiendas	Vosotros, Vosotras entendáis
El, Ella, Vd. entienda	Ellos, Ellas, Vds. entiendan

devolver (to return (something))
Yo devuelva	Nosotros, Nosotras devolvamos
Tú devuelvas	Vosotros, Vosotras devolváis
El, Ella, Vd. devuelva	Ellos, Ellas, Vds. devuelvan

Now for -IR irregular verbs in the Nosotros, Nosotras, Vosotros, and Vosotras forms, the letter 'e' in the stem of the verb will change to the letter 'i' and the letter 'o' will change to the letter 'u.' Take a look at these examples:

mentir (to lie)
Yo mienta	Nosotros, Nosotras mintamos
Tú mientas	Vosotros, Vosotras mintáis
El, Ella, Vd. mienta	Ellos, Ellas, Vds. mientan

dormir (to sleep)
Yo duerma	Nosotros, Nosotras durmamos
Tú duermas	Vosotros, Vosotras durmáis
El, Ella, Vd. duerma	Ellos, Ellas, Vds. duerman

Last, but not by any means least, we have true irregular subjunctive verbs. They are irregular because they don't follow any of the above "rules" when forming the subjunctive. Here they are:

	dar (to give)	estar (to be)	ir (to go)	saber (to know)
Yo	dé	esté	vaya	sepa
Tú	des	estés	vayas	sepas
El, Ella, Vd.	dé	esté	vaya	sepa
Nosotros, Nosotras	demos	estemos	vayamos	sepamos
Vosotros, Vosotras	deis	estéis	vayáis	sepáis
Ellos, Ellas, Vds.	den	estén	vayan	sepan

. . . and some more!

	ser (to be)	ver (to see)
Yo	sea	vea
Tú	seas	veas
El, Ella, Vd.	sea	vea
Nosotros, Nosotras	seamos	veamos
Vosotros, Vosotras	seáis	veáis
Ellos, Ellas, Vds.	sean	vean

SPECIAL ATTENTION: Remember hay (there is/there are)? Well in the subjunctive, it becomes haya. Simple, right? Here's an example of when this form is used in Spanish:

English: I hope that there are guys at the party.

Spanish: Espero que haya hombres a la fiesta.

I recommend bookmarking or marking this blog post as a favorite and referring to it later on as we continue with the subjunctive.

Please note that the above verbs are not the only verbs using the subjunctive or are irregular, but rather these verbs may be used as a model of forming verbs of a similar nature. Right now, I just want to make sure you are a bit comfortable seeing the subjunctive visually as it is a bit different.

¡Hasta luego!

~Keith

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