explain subjunctivo

Question

please explain how subjunctives are used and give examples

Hey Geo, just a suggestion if you fill out your profile with your native language and level of Spanish it will hopefully help us to give you the best answer for you personally :) - Kiwi-Girl, Mar 25, 2011

Hi kiwi girl, as you can see my studying is sporadic to say the least. I am English and my level of spanish is a lazy intermediate. I mean that I do understand more than I care to acknowledge. - Geo42, Jul 30, 2011

Answer 1

If you take the free courses on this site here, you will have sections on the subjunctive, with good examples and explanations. The lessons are excellent.

Answer 2

Wow, you just want to jump straight in there don't you. The subjunctive is a very complex question which you can spend months if not years studying before you totally 'have it'!

It's also a very provocative subject and to illustrate this I'm going to make an oversimplistic statement about the three times when you will generally use the subjunctive:

1. Indirect or implied command
2. Emotion
3. Unreality

Of course it's ridiculous to try to encapsulate all that the subjunctive is about in one little statement and you really just need to practice with it and explore it's use to even understand the above statement. But it might start to give you a little idea and as far as provocative goes, let's just see what kind of reaction my statement gets lolz