ESPAÑOL 3 / Instructor: Gonzalo Díaz-Letelier

Department of Hispanic Studies, University of California Riverside

THE SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD

Subjunctive mood indicates a wish, a suggestion, a doubt, a virtuality or, in general, a possibility or
expectative (it has not to do with matters of fact, but with potentialities). When we think/speak in this
mood we are jumping from the realm of reality to the realm of possibility, let’s say.

For example:

I suggest that Dawn drive the car. If I were Dawn, I would drive the car.
(Yo) sugiero que Dawn maneje el carro. Si yo fuera Dawn, yo manejaría el carro.

I propose that Dawn be asked to drive the car.

(Yo) propongo que pidan a Dawn que (ella) maneje el carro.

As it happens with the duality between simple past and imperfect past, in English there is no a subjunctive
grammatical function as such –since the infinitive is used, the future tense, the auxiliary would for the
conditional, etc.–, so you will have to learn to think with this function in Spanish (there is a specific
conjugation for the subjunctive mood function).

Remember that the mood and the tense are different grammatical functions –for that reason in this case
we will study the combination of the subjunctive mood with two tenses: present tense and imperfect past
tense (with and without conditional).

PRESENT SUBJUNCTIVE (verb llevar, “to carry” / you are effectively carrying that burden):

(Yo) prefiero que (tú) no lleves esa carga.

I prefer that you not carry that burden.

IMPERFECT SUBJUNCTIVE (verb llevar, “to carry” / statement about a possibility in the past):

(Yo) prefería que (tú) no llevaras esa carga.

I preferred that you not carry that burden.

CONDITIONAL WITH SUBJUNCTIVE (verb llevar, “to carry” / statement about a hypothetical case in the
present or in the past):

(Yo) preferiría que (tú) no llevaras esa carga.

I would prefer you not to carry that burden

En ese caso, (yo) hubiera preferido que (tú) no llevaras esa carga.
In that case, I would have preferred that you not carry that burden.
 PRESENT SUBJUNCTIVE

TOM-AR
(to take)

1S yo tom-e
2S tú tom-es
3S él, ella, eso tom-e

1P nosotros, nosotras tom-emos

2P vosotros, vosotras tom-éis / ustedes tom-en
3P ellos, ellas tom-en

COM-ER
(to eat)

1S yo com-a
2S tú com-as
3S él, ella, eso com-a

1P nosotros, nosotras com-amos

2P vosotros, vosotras com-áis / ustedes com-an
3P ellos, ellas com-an

ESCRIB-IR
(to write)

1S yo escrib-a
2S tú escrib-as
3S él, ella, eso escrib-a

1P nosotros, nosotras escrib-amos

2P vosotros, vosotras escrib-áis / ustedes escrib-an
3P ellos, ellas escrib-an
 IMPERFECT SUBJUNCTIVE

* Observation: to conjugate the verbs in the imperfect subjunctive, take as reference the simple past of
the verb in the third person plural.

TOM-AR …………… 3a persona plural, simple past: tomar-on

(to take)

1S yo tomar-a
2S tú tomar-as
3S él, ella, eso tomar-a

1P nosotros, nosotras tomár-amos

2P vosotros, vosotras tomar-ais / ustedes tomar-an
3P ellos, ellas tomar-an

COM-ER …………… 3a persona plural, simple past: comier-on

(to eat)

1S yo comier-a
2S tú comier-as
3S él, ella, eso comier-a

1P nosotros, nosotras comiér-amos

2P vosotros, vosotras comier-ais / ustedes comier-an
3P ellos, ellas comier-an

ESCRIB-IR …………… 3a persona plural, simple past: escribier-on

(to write)

1S yo escribier-a
2S tú escribier-as
3S él, ella, eso escribier-a

1P nosotros, nosotras escribiér-amos

2P vosotros, vosotras escribier-ais / ustedes escribier-an
3P ellos, ellas escribier-an
 CONDITIONAL (equivalent of WOULD)

* Observation: WOULD auxiliar particle = -ÍA ending (added to the infinitive verb).

Examples:

She would go to India I would like to go to Mexico

Ella iría a India Me gustaría ir a México

I would eat vegetables

Yo comería vegetales

TOM-AR
(to take)

1S yo tomar-ía
2S tú tomar-ías
3S él, ella, eso tomar-ía

1P nosotros, nosotras tomar-íamos

2P vosotros, vosotras tomar-íais / ustedes tomar-ían
3P ellos, ellas tomar-ían

COM-ER
(to eat)

1S yo comer-ía
2S tú comer-ías
3S él, ella, eso comer-ía

1P nosotros, nosotras comer-íamos

2P vosotros, vosotras comer-íais / ustedes comer-ían
3P ellos, ellas comer-ían

ESCRIB-IR
(to write)

1S yo escribir-ía
2S tú escribir-ías
3S él, ella, eso escribir-ía

1P nosotros, nosotras escribir-íamos

2P vosotros, vosotras escribir-íais / ustedes escribir-ían
3P ellos, ellas escribir-ían
 EXAMPLES / TYPOLOGY OF USAGES

 Wishes, expectations, preferences:

(Yo) quiero que Nicolás cocine pizza.

I want Nicolás to cook pizza.

Ellos quieren que tú les enseñes español.

They want you to teach them Spanish.

¿Quieres (tú) que (yo) te prepare algo para comer?

Do you want me to make you something to eat?

Carlos espera que (nosotros) salgamos pronto.

Carlos hopes we will leave soon.

Juan y Constanza prefieren que ustedes jueguen el juego.

Juan and Constanza (3P) prefer you guys (2P) to play the game.

Tú y yo queremos que ellos escriban su parte del artículo.

You and I (1P) want them (3P) to write their part of the article.

REMARK: notice that the first part of the sentence is in one grammatical person and the second part of
the sentence is in another grammatical person.

 The first of those two verbs express uncertainty, doubt, a wish or any kind of emotion:

Encuentro extraño que (ellos) no vengan a la fiesta.

I find it strange that they are not coming to the party.

No soporto que Susana nunca recoja la mesa.

I can’t stand the fact that Susana never clears the table.

REMARK: the first of the two verbs will always be in the indicative mood, and the second will always be
in the subjunctive mood.

 Using ojalá (I hope…):

Ojalá que no llueva mañana.

I hope it won’t rain tomorrow.

Espero que yo pase el examen.

I hope I pass the exam.

 When you express your best wishes to someone (either when it’s their birthday; they’re going on
a trip; or they’re not feeling well); the “que” comes at the start of the sentence, and the
subjunctive comes straight afterwards:
¡Que pases un buen finde!
I hope you have a nice weekend!

¡Que tengas buen viaje!

I hope you have a good trip!

¡Espero que te mejores!

I hope you get better!

 Suggestions:

Te sugiero que comas la tortilla de papa española.

I suggest you to eat the Spanish potato omelette.

 Projection of functionalities or results:

(Yo) voy a cuidar la batería para que (ella) dure.

I will take care of the battery so that it lasts.

(Yo) voy a lavar el auto para que (él) esté limpio.

I'm going to wash the car so it is clean.

CONJUGATION OF USEFUL IRREGULAR VERBS IN PRESENT SUBJUNCTIVE

SE-R
(to be)

1S yo se-a
2S tú se-as
3S él, ella, eso se-a

1P nosotros, nosotras se-amos

2P vosotros, vosotras se-áis / ustedes se-an
3P ellos, ellas se-an

EST-AR
(to be)

1S yo est-é
2S tú est-és
3S él, ella, eso est-é

1P nosotros, nosotras est-emos

2P vosotros, vosotras est-éis / ustedes est-én
3P ellos, ellas est-én
D-AR
(to give)

1S yo d-é
2S tú d-es
3S él, ella, eso d-é

1P nosotros, nosotras d-emos

2P vosotros, vosotras d-éis / ustedes d-en
3P ellos, ellas d-en

SAB-ER
(to know)

1S yo sep-a
2S tú sep-as
3S él, ella, eso sep-a

1P nosotros, nosotras sep-amos

2P vosotros, vosotras sep-áis / ustedes sep-an
3P ellos, ellas sep-an

HAB-ER
(to have)

1S yo hay-a
2S tú hay-as
3S él, ella, eso hay-a

1P nosotros, nosotras hay-amos

2P vosotros, vosotras hay-áis / ustedes hay-an
3P ellos, ellas hay-an

IR
(to go)

1S yo vaya
2S tú vayas
3S él, ella, eso vaya

1P nosotros, nosotras vayamos

2P vosotros, vosotras vayáis / ustedes vayan
3P ellos, ellas vayan
EXAMPLES OF CONJUGATION IN DIFFERENT MOODS AND TIMES

TO HELP = AYUDAR

INDICATIVE PRESENT
I help my brother.
Yo ayudo a mi hermano.

INDICATIVE IMPERFECT PAST

(When we were children) I helped my brother.
(Cuando éramos niños) yo ayudaba a mi hermano.

SUBJUNCTIVE PRESENT
(My mom hopes) that I help my brother.
(Mi mama espera) que yo ayude a mi hermano.

SUBJUNCTIVE IMPERFECT PAST

(My mom hoped) that I helped my brother.
(Mi mama esperaba) que yo ayudara a mi hermano.