What is the subjunctive in Spanish? and how is it used in Spanish?

Are you ready to read a SUPER important article?

Today's topic is subjunctive in Spanish.

For the first time, we delve into talking about this very relevant verbal mode.

Today you will know its shape in present and how to use the subjunctive in Spanish, focusing on the use of probability.

Interesting, right?

Well let's get started!

Present subjunctive: its form

What does subjunctive mean in Spanish?

The Spanish subjunctive is a verbal mode.

Do you know how many verbal modes there?

Only 3:

• • Indicative: We use it to express reality, present, past and future actions.
  • Imperative: we use it to express orders, advice, instructions and directions.
  • Subjunctive: serves to talk about our feelings, desires, visions, probabilities...

📢 Attention: You should not confuse a verbal mode with a verb tense. They are different things.

There are four tenses of the subjunctive in Spanish:

• Present subjunctive.

I'm going to explain how in this post. Don't stop reading!

• Imperfect subjunctive tense.

Do the ways of were or were? It is the verb to be or go of the imperfect subjunctive.

• Past perfect subjunctive.

It is conjugated with the verb haber in the present <<haya>> + participle.

• Past Pluperfect subjunctive.

Have you ever heard the verbs would have or would have? It is the verb haber in the pluperfect subjunctive.

As you see, there are three tenses in the past subjunctive.

However, in this article we are only going to look at the present form.

¿How is it formed?present subjunctive in Spanish?

I'll tell you.

Present regular subjunctive 

The truth is that theforms of the subjunctive in Spanishin the present regularThey are the same as those of the present indicative.

There is only one small difference: thethematic vowelwhich is repeated to mark the conjugation to which they belong (-ar, -er, -ir).

In itpresent indicativethe thematic vowel for verbs ending in –ar is -A(cant-AR- we sing); for verbs ending in-er, the vowel is -E(com-ER- we eat) and for those who end up in-ir, will be the -I(live-IR- we live). 

Logical, right? 

For himpresent subjunctiveWe do a <<change of partners>> as if we were dancing. 

In verbs that end in -AR, we put an E.(AR – E)

In verbs that end in -ER, we put an A.(WAS)

In verbs that end in -IR, we put an A.(GONNA)

Does it seem a little confusing?

Not at all, let's see it withexamples ofsubjunctive verbsand you will see how easy it is.😊

• Example with a verb in the subjunctive mood ending in-AR: speak.

Person	Present indicative	Present subjunctive
I	SPEAK	SPEAKAND
You	SPEAK	SPEAKIS
He/She/You	SPEAKS	SPEAKAND
We	TALK LATER	SPEAKEMOS
You	YOU SPEAK	SPEAKEIS
They/Them/You	THEY SPEAK	SPEAKIN

Do you see it?

As the infinitive ends in -AR, the subjunctive verb is conjugated as in the indicative, but putting the vowel 'E' in all persons.

Let's see more examples with other infinitives.

• Example with verb ending in-ER:reply.

Person	Present indicative	Present subjunctive
I	I RESPOND	ANSWERTO
You	YOU RESPOND	ANSWERACE
He/She/You	REPLY	ANSWERTO
We	WE RESPOND	ANSWERLOVES
You	YOU RESPOND	ANSWERAIS
They/Them/You	THEY RESPOND	ANSWERA.N.

This time it's the other way around. As the infinitive ends in -ER, we conjugate it in the subjunctive with the vowel 'A'.

• Example with a verb in the subjunctive mood ending in-IR: receive.

Person	Present indicative	Present subjunctive
I	RECEIPT	RECEIPTTO
You	YOU RECEIVE	RECEIPTACE
He/She/You	RECEIVE	RECEIPTTO
We	WE RECEIVE	RECEIPTLOVES
You	YOU RECEIVE	RECEIPTAIS
They/Them/You	RECEIVE	RECEIPTA.N.

In verbs that end in -IR, we make the same vowel change as with -ER: we put an 'A'.

Isn't it quite easy? 😁

Present irregular subjunctive

The irregular verbs ofpresent subjunctiveThey also resemble the irregular present indicative.

We have more or less the same types, although there are some new ones as well.

1. Irregulars of vowel change.

Do you remember the irregular verbs ofvowel change?

I remind you with some examples:

• E – IE: think, understand, want, lie, turn on, feel, etc.
• O – EU:move, sleep, power, die, etc.
• E – Yo: order, measure, serve, etc.
• U – EU: play.

In the subjunctive mood in Spanish, in addition to making the vowel change of the irregular form, we will have to add the vowel change of the subjunctive itself.

Two changes in vowels within the same verb. 😂

Let's see some of these subjunctive verbs with examples:

Person	THINK	MOVE	ASK
I	you thinkAND	moveTO	askedTO
You	you thinkIS	moveACE	askedACE
He/She/You	you thinkAND	moveTO	askedTO
We	thoughtEMOS	movLOVES	askedLOVES
You	thoughtEIS	movAIS	askedAIS
They/Them/You	you thinkIN	moveA.N.	askedA.N.

Remember that generally in the form ofus and you Nothere isirregular vowel change, but, be careful! In the subjunctive we have some exceptions.

Look at the verb ask. Do you see that here there is a vowel change from E – I in both of us and you?

This happensonlyin the verbs ofvowel change of E – Iand in the verbssleep and die.

2. Irregulars in the first person singular.

In the subjunctive,irregular of the form of <<yo>>They are like the indicative ones, but with a difference.

Let me explain. It is true that we take the same form.

For example,the verb say.

In the indicative, the only irregular form is in the first person singular, the form of <<yo>>:say.

In subjunctive,We use this same way but with all people.

I show it to you in a table of indicative and subjunctive verbs in Spanish so that you can see it well.

Person	Present indicative	Present subjunctive
I	D.I.GO	D.I.G.A.
You	YOU SAY	D.I.GAS
He/She/You	SAYS	D.I.G.A.
We	WE SAY	D.I.GAMOS
You	YOU SAY	D.I.GAIS
They/Them/You	THEY SAY	D.I.GAN

Do you see it?

In the present indicative only the form of <<yo>> changes, while in the present subjunctive we use the same irregularity for all people.

You knowother irregular verbsof this type?

There are a lot: know, put, have, go out, do...

The subjunctive mood of these verbs would be formed from the following endings:GA and ZCA.

KNOW – CONEZCA

PUT – PUTG.A.

HAVE – HAVEG.A. 

EXIT – EXITG.A.

DO – HAG.A.

3. Consonantal irregulars:

This is something new that does not exist in the indicative mood.

When creating the subjunctive form, some verbs sufferconsonant changes.

This commonly happens in verbs that have a'c', a'z'or one'g'before the ending of the infinitive.

I give you three examples:park, rub and play.

Although these changes occur with other consonants as well.

The consonant changes are as follows: 

C – QU / QU – C

Z – C / C – Z

G – GU / GU – G

G–J

As always, let's look at some Spanish subjunctive verbs and examples and you will understand it quickly.

Person	PARK	TOUCH	PLAY
I	aparTHAT	roEC	thuGUE
You	aparQUES	roCES	thuGUES
He/She/You	aparTHAT	roEC	thuGUE
We	aparWE BURN	roCEMOS	juLET'S GO
You	aparWHAT	roCEIS	juGUIDE
They/Them/You	aparQUEEN	roCEN	thuGUEN

This consonant change is due to the vowel change of the subjunctive.

The pronunciation ofappearsit would not be the same as that of the infinitive to park.

The same thing would happen with rubbing and playing.

It's moreimportant to keep the same sound of the infinitivethan consonants.

4. Total irregularities

Just as in the present indicative, we also havetotal irregularin present subjunctive. The most notable arebe,beandgo.

Person	BE	GO	BE
I	be	Oh	this
You	be	go	you are
He/She/You	be	Oh	this
We	let's be	let's go	we are
You	be	go	you are
They/Them/You	be	go	are

We say that the verb estar is irregular because of theaccents. Regular verbs do not have these accents.

If you want to master the subjunctive, you will have to learn these verbs because they are very important.

They're not very difficult, right?

Uses of the subjunctive 

Now you know howconjugate thesubjunctivein present tense in Spanish, with itsregular and irregular verbs.

Bravo! 👏

Maybe you are wondering:<<When is the subjunctive used in Spanish?>>

The truth is that there are manyuses of the subjunctive.

at our school Hispania, Spanish school: we give the uses of the subjunctive in Spanish for foreigners well classified and structured, so that students can understand them well.

There are many uses: feeling verbs, head verbs, influence verbs, temporal sentences, etc.

We are going to focus on one of the most important ones. The probability.

Express probability

There are many ways to express probability in Spanish.

We use probability when we are not sure about something and we do not want to show absolute certainty.

Probability with subjunctive

If we want to express probability with subjunctive, it is necessary to use keywords that indicate it.

These words are the following.

• It is likely that
• It is possible that
• It may be that
• Maybe

These four probability connectors go always with subjunctive.

If you look, they all have the word <<that>>. 

In many situations, the word <<que>> gives rise to the subjunctive because it introduces another verb after with a different subject that of the previous verb.

Be careful, but do not think that after <<that>> always we will find subjunctive, because this rule is not real.

For example, I think that the subjunctive is wonderful. 

How to learn the subjunctive in Spanish to express probability?

This is a good strategy that you can use to remember it: the probability connectors that take that always go with the subjunctive. 😉

Examples:

• It is likely that takea coffee tomorrow afternoon.
• I can't find my keys. It is possible that are inside the suitcase.
• I haven't seen Marta in a while. ¿It may be that be sick?

Have you seen in these subjunctive sentences that in the first example we are talking in the future?

The present subjunctive serves to talk about the present and the future.

That's why it's so important. 

It's a two for one. 👌😉

There is the future subjunctive in Spanish, but now not used: I will sing, I will eat, I will have or would have, I will write...

Probability with indicative 

We can also make expressions of probability with indicative. In this case, there are other connectors:

• At best
• the same
• Same

Examples:

At best it rains this afternoon.

Paco hasn't come yet. the same has fallen asleep.

There is no one on the street. Same there is an important football match.

Be careful, because sometimes these subjunctive marks have other meanings in other contexts. For example, the word <<equal>> sometimes functions as an adjective: my t-shirt is same than yours.

In order to distinguish them you will have to help yourself with the context that surrounds the conversation. 

You'll see that it's easier than you think.

Probability with subjunctive and indicative

Lastly, there are probability connectors very versatile that can go with subjunctive and also with indicative:

• Maybe
• maybe
• probably
• Possibly

Examples:

Maybe I was late a little, my bus was late. ✅

Maybe I'm late a little, my bus was late. ✅

Javier seems angry. maybe have a bad day ✅

Javier seems angry. maybe has a bad day ✅

Both with the subjunctive and the indicative, the examples are correct.

Is there a difference if we use indicative or subjunctive in these sentences?

Yes, there is a slight nuance.

If we use the indicative we will be expressing more security than with the subjunctive.

The same thing happened with at best, same and the same.

Whenever we talk about probability with indicative, the probability that the action will happen is high.

Activities to practice the subjunctive

You have already learned to conjugate the present subjunctive in Spanish and express probability with him.

It's great! 😊

Now is the time to put it into practice with two activities subjunctive in Spanish and make sure you understood it correctly.

shape activity 

In this activity, you have to complete the sentences with subjunctive verb forms correct in present tense.

Solutions

1. be
2. have
3. must/must
4. know
5. it rains/it rains
6. walk
7. live

Matching sentences activity

In this activity, you must match the pairs of sentences.

Look at the probability connectors and when there are verbs in Spanish in the indicative and subjunctive.

Solutions

1. José has gone to the town to live, it is possible that there he will find the tranquility he is looking for.
2. Today I feel very energetic, I will surely go to train later to take advantage of it.
3. You have a lot of security, maybe they give you the job because of that.
4. Many cats have been born in that field, perhaps I will adopt some.
5. I have two news to give you: one good and one bad, it may be better to tell you the bad first.
6. At the entrance to the school there are many people eating and talking, it is likely that they are celebrating something important.
7. I don't know Luis, but from what you tell me about him... he's probably a good guy.

With these subjunctive exercises in Spanish, we conclude today's article. 

Keep in mind that the use of the subjunctive is not limited only to the probability. 

There are many more uses.

Also, remember that there are also others subjunctive tenses in Spanish.

Do you want to learn all these things about the subjunctive mood? 

We are waiting for you with open arms in Hispania, Spanish school. 

We offer face-to-face Spanish courses and online Spanish courses so you can learn EVERYTHING about the subjunctive, in the classroom with classmates or at home.

You decide how you want to study.

Learn Spanish with us and be happy.

Enjoy this beautiful day! 😉

Article written by Carlos Martinez for Hispania, Spanish school 

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