Apply to School in Spanish

Quick Answer

¡Hola!Learn how to apply to school in Spanish in this article and the lessons above! Specifically, learn how to do the following in Spanish:

• give advice about academics

• use vocabulary related to the college admissions process

• use impersonal expressions in the subjunctive

Vocabulary

Let's start off with the vocab words in these lessons!

Adjectives

Spanish	English
esencial	essential
extraescolar	extracurricular
optimista	optimistic
perseverante	perseverant
proactivo	proactive
relevante	relevant

examples
Es esencial que seas perseverante. It's essential that you are perseverant.
Que participes en actividades extraescolares. That you participate in extracurricular activities.
Es recomendable que seas optimista. It's advisable that you be optimistic.

Nouns

Spanish	English
la admisión	admission
la curiosidad	curiosity
la disciplina	discipline
la escritura	writing
el interés	interest
el liderazgo	leadership
la oratoria	public speaking
la ortografía	spelling
la responsabilidad	responsibility
el sentido	sense
la tutoría	tutoring session, class

examples
Que prepares los exámenes de admisión. That you prepare for admission exams.
Es esencial que muestres curiosidad. It's essential that you show curiosity.
Que desarrolles la disciplina. That you develop discipline.

Verbs

In this skill, you learn the following verbs!

Demostrar

Demostrar(to demonstrate) is an -ar verb that has a stem change in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	demuestre	I demonstrate
tú	demuestres	you demonstrate	informal singular you
vos	demuestres	you demonstrate	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	demuestre	he, she demonstrates
usted	demuestre	you demonstrate	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	demostremos	we demonstrate
vosotros, vosotras	demostréis	you demonstrate	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	demuestren	they demonstrate
ustedes	demuestren	you demonstrate	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Note that there is no stem change in the nosotros or vosotros form of demostrar.

Descuidar

Descuidar(to be careless with) is an -ar verb that is regular in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	descuide	I am careless with
tú	descuides	you are careless with	informal singular you
vos	descuides	you are careless with	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	descuide	he, she is careless with
usted	descuide	you are careless with	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	descuidemos	we are careless with
vosotros, vosotras	descuidéis	you are careless with	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	descuiden	they are careless with
ustedes	descuiden	you are careless with	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Verb Phrase

In this skill, you learn the following verb phrase!

Prestar Atención

Prestar atención(to pay attention) is an -ar verb phrase that is regular in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	preste atención	I pay attention
tú	prestes atención	you pay attention	informal singular you
vos	prestes atención	you pay attention	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	preste atención	he, she pay attention
usted	preste atención	you pay attention	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	prestemos atención	we pay attention
vosotros, vosotras	prestéis atención	you pay attention	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	presten atención	they pay attention
ustedes	presten atención	you pay attention	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

The Present Subjunctive

The Spanish present subjunctive (el presente de subjuntivo) is used to talk about situations of doubt, desire, emotion, necessity, or uncertainty.

Unlike the present indicative, the present subjunctive is generally subjective.

Conjugating Verbs in the Present Subjunctive

To conjugate a verb in the present subjunctive, you must first remember what the present indicative yo form of the verb in question is. This is because the stem of present subjunctive verbs comes from the yo form of the present indicative. For many verbs, this will be the same as the infinitive stem, but for many others, such as verbs with spelling changes, stem-changing verbs, and irregular verbs, it will be different.

Present Subjunctive Stem Formula

The formula for finding the present subjunctive stem of a verb is the following:

present subjunctive stem = yo form of present indicative minus o ending

Regular Present Subjunctive Endings

Once you have the stem, you will add the present subjunctive ending that matches your subject. There are only two ending sets for the present subjunctive: one for -ar verbs and one for both -er and -ir verbs.

Subject	-ar Verb Endings	-er and -ir Verb Endings
yo	e	a
tú, vos	es	as
usted, él, ella	e	a
nosotros, nosotras	emos	amos
vosotros, vosotras	éis	áis
ustedes, ellos, ellas	en	an

Irregular Verbs in the Present Subjunctive

There are only six truly irregular verbs in the subjunctive. You'll find the conjugations for each of these verbs in the tables below.

Present Subjunctive Conjugations of Dar, Estar, and Ser

Subject	Dar	Estar	Ser
yo	dé	esté	sea
tú, vos	des	estés	seas
usted, él, ella	dé	esté	sea
nosotros, nosotras	demos	estemos	seamos
vosotros, vosotras	deis	estéis	seáis
ustedes, ellos, ellas	den	estén	sean

Present Subjunctive Conjugations of Haber, Ir, and Saber

Subject	Haber	Ir	Saber
yo	haya	vaya	sepa
tú, vos	hayas	vayas	sepas
usted, él, ella	haya	vaya	sepa
nosotros, nosotras	hayamos	vayamos	sepamos
vosotros, vosotras	hayáis	vayáis	sepáis
ustedes, ellos, ellas	hayan	vayan	sepan

To remember these six verbs, just think of the mnemonic DISHES:

Dar

Saber

Haber

Estar

Ser

Stem Changes and the Present Subjunctive

While they’re not entirely irregular, the following verbs do have certain changes that we need to keep in mind while conjugating verbs in the subjunctive:

1. e> ie and o> ue Stem Changes with -ar and -er Verbs

For verbs in this group, the e in the last syllable of the stem (the yo form of the present indicative) changes to ie, or the o in the last syllable of the stem (the yo form of the present indicative) changes to ue. All subjunctive forms follow the stem change except for nosotros and vosotros, which use the infinitive stem.

2. e> ie and o> ue Stem Changes with -ir Verbs

All e> ie and o> ue stem-changing -ir verbs follow the same changes as in the present indicative, except the nosotros and vosotros forms, in which the e changes to i and the o changes to u.

3. e> i Stem Changes with -ir Verbs

All e> i stem-changing -ir verbs in the present indicative maintain the stem change in all forms of the present subjunctive.

Subjunctive Trigger Words

WEIRDO

Many of the verbs and phrases that require the subjunctive fit into the acronym WEIRDO: Wishes, Emotions, Impersonal expressions, Recommendations, Doubt/Denial, and Ojalá.

In these lessons, we saw the following subjunctive trigger words and phrases:

Spanish	English
es bueno que	it's good that
es esencial que	it's essential that
es importante que	it's important that
es necesario que	it's necessary that
es recomendable que	it's advisable that