The Spanish Subjunctive Conjugation Made Easy

First things first, If you’re reading this article to learn all about subjunctives, we want to congratulate you! Leaning Subjunctive is a topic for advanced learners, so that means that you’re doing it great so far! 

It is widely thought that Subjunctives in Spanish are a very difficult topic in Spanish grammar, since it adds a lot of new and different rules into the game, rules that simply don’t exist in English, this topic is not difficult at all, but it will certainly take you some time to master it.

In this article, we will be explaining everything you need to know about the Spanish Subjunctive, what is it, how to conjugate it, and some examples for you to start practicing. At the end of this article, you will realize that the Subjunctive in Spanish makes even more sense than in English!

Verb Moods vs Verb Tenses

It’s important to note that moods and verb tenses are related but they are not the same. Moods of a verb do not refer to a moment in time but to a manner of expression. Although they can be conjugated in different tenses.

To simplify, think of moods as a manner of a verb to express facts, orders, or hypothetical situations. and tenses are simply the time when the action of the verb occurs

in Spanish, there are (luckily) just three moods:

• The indicative mood which indicates concrete actions, facts, or objective statements, it’s the most common of all three.
• The imperative mood which represents orders or instructions, and
• The subjunctive mood which indicates subjective statements, feelings, doubts, and insecurities.

Subjunctives and Indicatives may be conjugated in different tenses  (past, present, or future). Each of these moods has a different function.

What is the Subjunctive 

The subjunctive is a verb mood that is used to express possible, desired, or hypothetical statements. In other words, statements that are not actually happening or are uncertain to happen. 

It’s easier to understand how the subjunctive work by looking at some examples. With subjunctives, you can express:

Wishes from one to another person

How to Conjugate Subjunctives

Here are some basic rules for the present subjunctive conjugation. Please remember that the subjunctive forms in different tenses will have different forms, so you will have to learn those as well. But in this section, we will present you the basic aspects of conjugating subjunctives in the present tense.

All subjunctive verbs in the present tense will have two parts: the present subjunctive stem and the subjunctive ending.

The Subjunctive Stem

Getting the Subjunctive Stem is really easy, you just have to take the letter “o” off from the first-person singular form of the present indicative, in other words, the “yo” form of the verb.

Note that there are also some irregular stem forms that can’t follow this rule, for example, these:

• haber (aux. to have): hay- 
• ir (to go):  vay-
• saber (to know): sep-
• dar (to give): d-
• estar (to be): est-
• ser (to be): se-

Creating the subjunctive stem is the first step for conjugating subjunctives. After this, you have to add the subjunctive ending at the end of the word.

The Subjunctive Ending

The present subjunctive endings are different for –ar verbs and –er/-ir verbs.

For AR Verbs

For ER / IR Verbs

In other words, when you see one of these subjunctive triggers, you must use the subjunctive. Learning these words and phrases is a useful practice to help Spanish students master the use of the subjunctive mood.

Will, Desires, and Orders

The subjunctive mood is used after expressions of will, desire, and orders whenever there are two different subjects in the two clauses linked by the subordinating conjunction “que”. For example;

Emotions and Reactions

The subjunctive is used after expressions of emotion and reactions to something. A very common structure that triggers the subjunctive is es + adjective + que expressing opinions. For example:

Negative Opinions and Doubt

The subjunctive occurs in dependent clauses introduced by verbs and expressions of doubt or negative opinions whenever there are two different subjects in clauses linked by the subordinating conjunction que. 

Here is a list of common expressions of negative opinion and doubt in which the subjunctive is found in the subordinate clause:

Conjunctions with Subjunctive

When the following conjunctions introduce a subordinate clause with a new subject, they always trigger the subjunctive. Remember that the subjects of the subordinate clause and in the main clause are different. Look at these examples:

How to Identify When to use Subjunctives Quickly

Another great way to know when you should use subjunctives in a sentence is by thinking about the following rules:

1. First Rule: The Sentence has Two Subjects

The subjunctive mood usually appears in the subordinate clause (Second part of a sentence). The subject in this subordinate clause is in most cases different from the subject in the main clause.

• She wants me to eat the apple.
• Ella quiere que yo coma la manzana.

When you notice that there are two subjects in a sentence, a red flag goes off! You can check the next rule:

2. Second Rule: The sentence has Two Verbs

Because we talk about two clauses, there are usually two different verbs in these clauses. The first verb comes in the indicative mood in the main verb, and the second verb is in the subjunctive mood in the subordinate clause. 

• She wants me to eat the apple.
• Ella quiere que yo coma la manzana.

As you can see in the example, there are two verbs in the sentence, the first one being “quiere” and the second one being the subjunctive verb of “comer”, note that the first verb is a verb that expresses a wish, that means that the second verb will surely be subjunctive

3. Third rule, there is a relative pronoun (que or quien)

The subordinate clause with the subjunctive form of the verb is usually introduced by a relative pronoun que (which, that) or quien (who, that).

• She wants me to eat the apple. (She wants that I eat the apple)
• Ella quiere que yo coma la manzana.