Go to the Festival of San Juan in Spanish

Quick Answer

¡Hola!Learn how to go to the Festival of San Juan in Spanish in this article and the lessons above! Specifically, learn how to do the following in Spanish:

• talk about Saint John’s Eve

• use vocabulary related to a typical festival

• use the subjunctive to talk about conditional outcomes

Vocabulary

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

Nouns

Spanish	English
la chipa	chipa
el cohete	bottle rocket
la fogata	bonfire
la hoguera	bonfire
el mbejú	mbeju
el paraguas	umbrella
Paraguay	Paraguay

examples
Antes de que vuelvas, prueba la chipa. Before you return, try the chipa.
Cuando llegues, compra cohetes. When you arrive, buy bottle rockets.
Cuando enciendan las fogatas, sonríe. When they light the bonfires, smile.

Chipa and Mbejú

Chipa and mbejú are two different foods from Paraguay.

Chipa

Chipa is a type of cheesy bread roll that is popular throughout parts of South America. While there are many different variations on chipa, the base ingredients are yuca or cassava starch, eggs, baking powder, salt, butter, and cheese—lots of cheese!

Mbejú

Mbejú is another type of bread from Paraguay. Like chipa, it’s made with yuca or cassava starch, cheese, butter, and salt. However, chipa takes a flatter, more pancake-like form.

Both chipa and mbejú have their roots in the indigenous Guaraní(Guarani) culture.

Verbs

In this skill, you learn the following verbs!

Spanish	English
agotarse	to run out
aplaudir	to clap
dar la bienvenida	to welcome

Agotarse

Agotarse(to run out) is an -ar pronominal verb that is regular in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
él, ella, ello	se agote	it runs out
ellos, ellas	se agoten	they run out

Celebrar

Celebrar(to celebrate) is an -ar verb that is regular in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	celebre	I celebrate
tú	celebres	you celebrate	informal singular you
vos	celebres	you celebrate	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	celebre	he, she celebrates
usted	celebre	you celebrate	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	celebremos	we celebrate
vosotros, vosotras	celebréis	you celebrate	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	celebren	they celebrate
ustedes	celebren	you celebrate	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. We can also use the subjunctive to talk about conditional outcomes.

Conditional Outcomes

This type of sentence describes what will happen if another action is completed. These actions are conditional upon another action being completed, so the subjunctive is used to convey a sense of uncertainty. Many phrases with conditional circumstances have a connecting phrase or conjunctive expressions which introduce time limitations, conditions, concessions, or results. The key action—the one that must be completed for the second action to occur—is in the subjunctive.

examples
Cuando llegues, compra cohetes. When you arrive, buy bottle rockets.
Cuando bailen, se sentirán felices. When they dance, they'll feel happy.

examples

Cuando llegues, compra cohetes.

When you arrive, buy bottle rockets.

Cuando bailen, se sentirán felices.

When they dance, they'll feel happy.

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.