what is the subjunctive
what is the subjunctive
4 Answers
The subjunctive tense is a mood which is extremely common in Spanish and other Romance languages such as French and Italian. The subjunctive mood also exists in English, although we don't use it very much and its use is less common than it used to be. You could speak English for days, perhaps years, and get by without ever using a subjunctive form. But that isn't true in Spanish. The subjunctive mood is essential to Spanish, and even many simple types of statements can't be made properly without it.
In general, the subjunctive is a verb mood that is used to express an action or state of being in the context of the speaker's reaction to it. Most commonly (although not always), the subjunctive verb is used in a clause that starts with the relative pronoun que (meaning "which," "that" or "who"). Frequently, the sentences that contain a subjunctive verb are used to express doubt, uncertainty, denial, desire, commands or reactions to the clause containing the subjunctive verb.
Just so you can get an idea, one example in English would be:
'If I were rich.' - it's the 'were' that's in the subjunctive
- you're not stating that you are rich and - 'If I is rich' just doesn't work.
But as already mentioned above the subjunctive mood is much more commonly used and necessary in the Spanish language than in English. Here's a link to some Games using the Spanish subjunctive and some excellent reference articles.
Have you ever seen the movie "The Natural"?
