Conjugations in the Subjunctive Mood
How do verbs conjugate in the subjunctive mood? This includes both the simple and compound tenses. Furthermore, exactly what does the subjunctive translate to in English?
4 Answers
The conjugation of most verbs in the subjunctive really is not that difficult. When and how to use this mood is one of the most difficult things in the Spanish language for English speakers to master.
A few links: wierdo
There are several other articles in this section concerning the subjuctive.
As Noetol pointed out the subjunctive is a mood, not a tense, i.e. the subjunctive does not refer to when something takes place, rather it reflects how the person feels about what might happen. The subjunctive is not used much in English and, of course, we do not have much conjugation of verbs in English. An example of a subjunctive mood in English would be "If I were to go to Latin America, I would be able to speak the language". The "if" introduces doubt as to whether I will ever go to Latin America. When the subjunctive is used there is generally (or at least often) a main clause that introduces doubt or lack of certainty and an subordinate clause in the subjunctive. There is a long list of Spanish words (or English for that matter) that introduce doubt. They are given in the lessons on several web sites. These words include those of influence, "I recommend that you ...", words of emotion, "I would be surprised if you ...", and words of doubt, disbelief or denial, "I am not sure that you can ...". Get the idea? The subjunctive conjugation is fairly simple. See the excellent conjugation portion of this site.
Ray,
A definitive answer to your question would range over a large section of Spanish grammar, and it would not be possible to provide that answer on this forum. However, there is one fascinating aspect of your question and that is the use of the subjunctive in English. It is widely believed that the subjunctive mood is not overtly expressed in English; however, that is not factual. In all of the following examples the verb is in the subjunctive mood:
"The teacher insists that John do more reading" (not does)
"It is important that you be there on time" (not are)
The subjunctive also appears in the "if clause" of a conditional pair. For example:
"If it be the case that might is right; civilization is in danger" (not is)
The English subjunctive appears in statements of doubt, fear, preference, insistance and similarly emotionally charged utterances. It is true that the subjunctive is a decreasing feature of English, but it is not gone just yet. Since modern English doesn't exhibit the subjunctive prominently, it can be hard to identify it. For example:
"Prefiero que ella coma aquí los domingos" (coma = Spanish subjunctive)
"I prefer her to eat here Sundays" (Modern English - no subjunctive / short and sloppy)
"I prefer that she should eat here on Sundays" (that she should = subjunctive equivalent)
Words such as: "that she should" "that she may" "if she were to" signal an under-lying English subjunctive. It is slipping out of the language of Shakespeare - more is the pity in my opinion.
Well, as many here have well said, the trick it to know when. And though you definitely should study that, when you want to know what the conjugations are for a specific word, you can also look them up on the conjugator on this site.
There are only a few irregulars, including, off the top of my head:
dar, estar, haber, ir, saber, ser.
Buena suerte.
