The Present Subjunctive
Uses:
In Spanish, the Present Subjunctive is used in 11 main instances:
1. To express desire: desear que, preferir que, querer que.
For example: “quiero que hagas tus deberes.”
2. To express hope: esperar que, ojalá.
For example: "espero que vayas a la fiesta"
3. To express fear: temer que, tener miedo que.
For example: "temo que no hablen inglés"
4. To express an emotion that an action provokes: estar contento/triste que, gustar que.
For example: “me gusta que coman comida picante"
5. To express doubt: dudar que, no creer que, no imaginarse que, negar que, no parecer que, no pensar que, no suponer que.
For example: “no creo que sea divertido.”
6. For negative expressions with verbs that indicate speech: no decir que.
For example: “no digo que sea fácil.”
7. To express possibility: es posible que, no es posible que, es imposible que.
For example: "es posible que ya sepan la verdad."
8. To express requests and influence: exigir que, insistir en que, pedir que, sugerir que.
For example: "exigo que hagas tus deberes"
9. After impersonal expressions (usually with es): es aconsejable que, es importante que, es primordial que, etc.:
For example: "es importante que estudies mucho."
10. To express a formal imperative (usted/ustedes) and to express a negative imperative in the tú form.
For example: ¡no me digas!"
11. With specific words and phrases: acaso, a menos que, antes de que, aunque*, como si, en el caso de que, hasta que, mientras que, para que, quizás, sin que, tal vez.
For example: “debes hacer tus deberes para que aprendas.”
*Notebook: Aunque can be used in the Indicative as well as the Subjunctive.
**Notebook: The subject must change for the Subjunctive to be used.
Formation: Regular verbs
The formation of regular verbs in Spanish is fairly simple. In their infinitive form, verbs end in either: -ar, -er or –ir.
To form the Present Subjunctive for regular verbs in Spanish, we remove the -ar, -er or –ir ending of the verb to obtain the stem.
For example: hablar - ar = habl
Then the correct Present Subjunctive ending must be added to the stem in order to indicate who/what is doing/does the action.
For example: the stem of hablar = habl, the ending for I is "e", the conjugated verb becomes "hable".
*Notebook: note how the ar, er/ir endings in the Present Tense have basically swapped in the Present Subjunctive.
The endings for each person are as follows:
Here is an example of each type of regular verb:
Irregulars: Stem-changing verbs
In the Present Subjunctive, the irregular verbs take the stem from their yo form in the Present Tense and add the subjunctive endings.
For example:
Present Tense → Present Subjunctive:
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(yo) tengo → (yo) tenga, (tú) tengas, (él) tenga, etc.
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(yo) hago → (yo) haga, (tú) hagas, (él) haga, etc
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(yo) juego → (yo) juega, (tú) juegas, (él) juega, etc
Below is a list of common verbs with an irregular stem in the Present Subjunctive:
1. Very important verbs:
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comenzar → comienc
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empezar → empiec
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hacer → hag
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jugar → jueg
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pensar → piens
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poder → pued
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preferir → prefier
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querer → quier
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sentir → sient
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tener → teng
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volver → vuelv
2. Important verbs:
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ccordarse → (me) acuerd
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cerrar → cierr
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concluir → concluy
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confesar → confies
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confiar → confí
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contar → cuent
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defender → defiend
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despertarse → (me) despiert
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doler → duel
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dormir → duerm
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encontrar → encuentr
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entender → entiend
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enviar → enví
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morir → uer
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mostrar → muestr
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mover → muev
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negar → nieg
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perder → pierd
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recomendar → recomiend
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recordar → recuerd
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sentarse → (me) sient
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soñar → sueñ
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sugerir → sugier
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vestirse → (me) vist
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volar → vuel
3. Less important verbs:
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acentuar → acentú
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actuar → actú
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adquirir → adquier
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almorzar → almuerc
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ampliar → amplí
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aprobar → aprueb
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atravesar → atravies
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atribuir → atribuy
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calentar → calient
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conservar → consirv
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constituir → constituy
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construir → construy
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continuar → continú
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corregir → corrig
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criar → crí
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destruir → destruy
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disminuir → disminuy
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distribuir → distrubuy
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divertirse → (me) diviert
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elegir → elij
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espiar → espí
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excluir → excluy
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fluir → fluy
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gobernar → gobiern
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graduar → gradú
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huir → huy
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incluir → incluy
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influir → influy
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inquirir → inquier
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instituir → instituy
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llover → lluev
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mentir → mient
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nevar → niev
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obstruir → obstruy
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reír → rí
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repetir → repit
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rogar → rueg
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servir → sirv
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situar → sitú
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soler → suel
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sonar → suen
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sustituir → sustituy
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valuar → valú
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variar → varí
In addition to these verbs with irregular stems, 6 verbs have an entirely different form in the Present Subjunctive:
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Dar
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Estar
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Haber
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Ir
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Saber
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Ser
Here are tables showing their Present Subjunctive forms:
Click here to continue to exercises on the Present Subjunctive
Published: 18/04/2016