Spanish subjunctive (el subjuntivo) is a mood that expresses several concepts, such as a wish, hope, doubt, probabily, opinion… It is only used occasionally in modern in English, but in Spanish is quite common.
Espero que tengáis un buen viaje (I hope you have a good trip).
Notice that because the subjunctive often occurs in subordinate clauses, the subordinating conjunction “que” is usually found before the subjunctive forms.
Quiero que vengan (I want them to come).
Tenses of the Subjunctive in Spanish
The subjunctive has several tenses, the main one is the present subjunctive (presente de subjuntivo), which is used to express present and future.
There are three past tenses:
- the imperfect (pretérito imperfecto de subjuntivo).
- the perfect (pretérito perfecto de subjuntivo).
- the pluperfect (pretérito pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo).
There is not a specific tense in the subjunctive to express future, in the subjunctive, we must use present and the imperfect subjunctive in these occasions.
Click on the link to learn more about these tenses of the Spanish subjunctive!
Indicative vs Subjunctive exemples
Don’t worry about how to form the new tenses in the subjunctive, their conjugation is quite like the tenses in the indicative, look these examples:
Creo que conozco a este hombre.
No creo que conozca a este hombre.
A lo mejor Ana ha llamado por teléfono.
Es probable que Ana haya llamado por teléfono.
Mis hijos vinieron ayer a visitarme.
Me alegró mucho que mis hijos vinieran a visitarme.
So learning the subjunctive will be a good revision of the indicative tenses too.
Ejercicios para practicar el subjuntivo
Now it is time you practice what you have learned with the quiz below and remember to contact your tutor with any question you have about the Spanish subjunctive. Don’t you have a personal Spanish tutor yet?
Do you know our online tutorships? In them, you can practice with a tutor any subject of the Spanish language about which you have questions. Including, of course, the subjunctive.