what exactly is a subjunctive?
im trying to figure out the easiest way to understand "subjunctive"
10 Answers
The subjunctive is a mood. This is a grammatical term that is used to refer to the attitude conveyed towards a statement as it is being made. In Spanish, as well as in English, there are three moods.
1). Indicative Mood - Can be thought of as the mood that is used for declarative statements.
2). Subjunctive Mood - Can be thought of as the mood used for non-declarative statements that are used to describe a wish, command, probability, desire, or contrary-to-fact, hypothetical situations.
3). Imperative Mood - Can be thought of as the mood of direct commands or requests.
As to the specifics of where and when to use the subjunctive I would suggest you try the reference article on the subjunctive as well as some of Paralee's free video lessons on this site. Subjunctive Reference Article
If the entire question of "subjunctive" is unfamiliar to you, then you should probably start by seeking discussions in/about your native language (the basic concepts are similar in many languages). Once you understand how it works in your own language (if it does), you will be in a better position to understand how it is used is Spanish.
A concept in Spanish that will blow your mind~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow, what a great answer by Izanoni1!
As he said, subjunctive is commonly used when exprssing a hope, wish or other feeling:
I hope that we can get there on time. = Espero que podamos llegar en tiempo.
Mom wants me to finish our chores before leaving. = Mama quiere que termine las tareas antes de salir. (or "before I leave" = "antes de que (yo) salga"
It's such a shame that more people don't know about this website and its usefulness. = Que tan lastima que no conozcan mas personas de esto sitio del web y la utilidad del mismo.
Basically, it's two independent phrases that are relating to each other with "that" to connect them. Sometimes, the first phrase is not spoken, but understood:
(I hope) it goes well for you! = Que te vaya bien!
(I pray) that God blesses you. = Que Dios te bendiga.
If the entire question of "subjunctive" is unfamiliar to you, then you should probably start by seeking discussions in/about your native language (the basic concepts are similar in many languages). Once you understand how it works in your own language (if it does), you will be in a better position to understand how it is used is Spanish.
I agree wholeheartedly with this statement. After looking through a few good English grammar books that dealt more extensively with the subject of verb moods, I found that the concept of the Spanish subjunctive was not so foreign (forgive the pun) as before.
The biggest problem is finding a decent handling of the subjunctive in English as many books seem to only give it a cursory examination or mention it in passing. One reason for the dearth of information on the subject is that dedicated verb tenses for the subjunctive are not as evident in English as they are in Spanish because of the preference for modal auxiliary verbs to convey the mood. That being said, there are good books available out there as well as good articles that deal with the subjunctive. You just have to look for them.
If you asking for a definition of the word subjunctive, here it is
that is a verbal mood
The subjunctive mood is used with subjective expressions (hoping, wishing, feeling), along with recommendations ("Yo recomiendo que..."), but it is also used with the imperative. See this webpage.
is what in spanish we call "verbal mood".
There are three verbal moods: -Indicative -Imperative -Subjunctive
Why are subjunctives moods useful... hhmm I dont know... But they seem to be particularly useful for conditionals and other things.
If I wanted to know something that general, I would use a search engine like Bing or Google to try to figure it out. There's a lot of sites with educational material.
