Overcome Your Fears in Spanish

Quick Answer

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

• express one’s fears

• answer someone who is expressing their fears

• use vocabulary related to emotions

Vocabulary

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

Adjectives

Spanish	English
angustiado	anxious
apoyado	supported

examples
No quiero que estés angustiado. I don't want you to be anxious.
Quiero que te sientas apoyado. I want you to feel supported.

Adverb

Spanish	English
hondo	deeply

examples
Quiero que respires hondo. I want you to breathe deeply.

Nouns

Spanish	English
el lobo	wolf
el monstruo	monster

examples
De que haya lobos en el bosque. That there are wolves in the forest.
Tengo miedo de que haya monstruos. I'm afraid that there are monsters.

Verbs

In this skill, you learn the following verbs!

Averiarse

Averiarse(to break down [machine]) is a pronominal -ar verb that has a stem change in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
él, ella, ello	se averíe	it breaks down
ellos, ellas	se averíen	they break down

Confiar

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

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	confíe	I trust
tú	confíes	you trust	informal singular you
vos	confíes	you trust	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	confíe	he, she trusts
usted	confíe	you trust	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	confiemos	we trust
vosotros, vosotras	confiéis	you trust	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	confíen	they trust
ustedes	confíen	you trust	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Note that there is no stem change in the nosotros and the vosotros forms of confiar.

Fracasar

Fracasar(to fail) is an -ar verb that is regular in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	fracase	I fail
tú	fracases	you fail	informal singular you
vos	fracases	you fail	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	fracase	he, she fails
usted	fracase	you fail	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	fracasemos	we fail
vosotros, vosotras	fracaséis	you fail	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	fracasen	they fail
ustedes	fracasen	you fail	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Lastimarse

Lastimarse(to get hurt) is an -ar pronominal verb that is regular in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	me lastime	I get hurt
tú	te lastimes	you get hurt	informal singular you
vos	te lastimes	you get hurt	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	se lastime	he, she gets hurt
usted	se lastime	you get hurt	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	nos lastimemos	we get hurt
vosotros, vosotras	os lastiméis	you get hurt	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	se lastimen	they get hurt
ustedes	se lastimen	you get hurt	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Mentir

Mentir(to lie) is an -ir verb that has a stem change in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	mienta	I lie
tú	mientas	you lie	informal singular you
vos	mientas	you lie	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	mienta	he, she lies
usted	mienta	you lie	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	mintamos	we lie
vosotros, vosotras	mintáis	you lie	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	mientan	they lie
ustedes	mientan	you lie	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Progresar

Progresar(to make progress) is an -ar verb that is regular in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	progrese	I make progress
tú	progreses	you make progress	informal singular you
vos	progreses	you make progress	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	progrese	he, she makes progress
usted	progrese	you make progress	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	progresemos	we make progress
vosotros, vosotras	progreséis	you make progress	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	progresen	they make progress
ustedes	progresen	you make progress	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Soportar

Soportar(to stand [put up with]) is an -ar verb that is regular in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	soporte	I stand
tú	soportes	you stand	informal singular you
vos	soportes	you stand	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	soporte	he, she stands
usted	soporte	you stand	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	soportemos	we stand
vosotros, vosotras	soportéis	you stand	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	soporten	they stand
ustedes	soporten	you stand	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

Ir

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
me da miedo que	I'm afraid that
me pone nervioso que	I get nervous when
no quiero que	I don’t want
no soporto que	I can’t stand
quiero que	I want
tengo miedo de que	I’m afraid that

Quiz Yourself!

Want more practice with the vocabulary you learned in these lessons? Click here!

Spanish Conversation

Fantastic! Let's put the grammar and vocab from above to the test in the following example of a conversation in Spanish.

Maia:

¿De qué tienes miedo, Hugo?

What are you afraid of, Hugo?

Hugo:

De que haya lobos en el bosque. ¿Oíste los lobos anoche?

That there are wolves in the forest. Did you hear the wolves last night?

Maia:

No, y no quiero que tengas miedo.

No, and I don't want you to be afraid.

Hugo:

También tengo miedo de que mi proyecto fracase.

I'm also afraid that my project will fail.

Maia:

Quiero que tu proyecto progrese. Quiero que te sientas bien.

I want your project to make progress. I want you to feel good.

Hugo:

Gracias, Maia.

Thanks, Maia.

Want to learn more about how to overcome your fears in Spanish? Check out the following articles!

• Expressing Emotions with the Subjunctive

• Spooky Spanish Words

• Subjunctive vs. Indicative