El Presente Subjuntivo! Qué suerte! You re teacher has just informed you that you will be spending the next two months working on the present subjunctive mode. Not only will you learn the formation ( Qué divertido!), but the uses as well. Forming and using the subjunctive mode is a game. Que se lo pasen bien! La Formación A. Los Verbos Regulares B. Los Verbos de -go C. Los Verbos Irregulares D. Los Verbos de Cambio Radical E. Los Verbos de car, -gar, -zar F. Los Verbos que terminan en cer, -cir G. Los Verbos que terminan en ger, -gir H. Los Verbos que terminan en uir I. Los Verbos de guir J. Los Verbos Especiales de ir K. Las Excepciones Las Reglas In order to form the present subjunctive, you must be familiar with the present indicative. You are all in either Spanish 10, 10H and 11, so the indicative is a piece of bizcocho, Verdad?!? We ll start with regular verbs and move on to more challenging (pero más divertido) verbs.
Los Verbos Regulares Take a verb, any verb -ar, -er, or ir and put it in the yo form. Let s start with an ar verb: The yo form of cocinar is cocino We remove the o from the verb and add the opposite ending. When I mean opposite endings, I am basically referring to the endings of an er verb. The following are the endings for an ar verb in the present subjunctive. -ar -e -emos -es -éis -e -en So, the verb chart for cocinar in the present subjunctive would be: cocinar cocine cocines cocine cocinemos cocinéis cocinen
Now let s continue with er and ir verbs. Fortunately for you they share the same endings in the present subjunctive. -er y ir -a -amos -as -áis -a -an Ejemplos: aprender aprenda aprendas aprenda aprendamos aprendáis aprendan vivir viva vivas viva vivamos viváis vivan
Los Verbos de go Fácil, verdad? Now let s move on to the go verbs. Although these verbs are irregular in the present indicative, they are not in the subjunctive. Why? Because in forming the present subjunctive you are going to follow the same steps as a regular verb. Go to the yo form of the verb, take off the o, and add the opposite endings. Ejemplos: Tener: We go to the yo form of the indicative which is tengo, we remove the o and add the opposite endings. Since tener is an er verb, the endings we would add are: -a, -as, -as, -amos, -áis, -an. tener tenga tengas tenga tengamos tengáis tengan The other go verbs which would follow this rule are the following: decir diga, digas, diga, digamos, digáis, digan poner ponga, pongas, ponga, pongamos, pongáis, pongan salir salga, salgas, salga, salgamos, salgáis, salgan hacer haga, hagas, haga, hagamos, hagáis, hagan venir venga, vengas, venga, vengamos, vengáis, vengan caer caiga, caigas, caiga, caigamos, caigáis, caigan traer traiga, traigas, traiga, traigamos, traigáis, traigan oír oiga, oigas, oiga, oigamos, oigáis, oigan
Los Verbos Irregulares The following are irregular verbs. How am I going to learn them? you say to yourself. MEMORIZE! Sorry, I have no shortcut to offer. ser estar haber sea seamos esté estemos haya hayamos seas seáis estés estéis hayas hayáis sea sean esté estén haya hayan ir ver dar vaya vayamos vea veamos dé demos vayas vayáis veas veáis des deis vaya vayan vea vean dé den saber sepa sepamos sepas sepáis sepa sepan
Los Verbos de Cambio Radical As you all know (You do all know, right?), there are three types of stem-changing verbs: e-ie, o-ue, and e-i. We ll go over them separately. e-ie cerrar, perder, pensar, mentir, empezar, comenzar, despertarse, recomendar These verbs are boot verbs in the present subjunctive as well as the present indicative. We follow the same rules in forming the verb. Go to the yo form, take off the o, add the opposite ending, etc. cerrar cierre cierres cierre cerremos cerréis cierren o-ue mostrar, contar, poder, morder, encontrar, volver, costar, acordarse, acostarse, almorzar Like the e-ie verbs, these are boot verbs as well. So how do we put these verbs in the present subjunctive? You know by now: go to the yo form, take of the o, and add the opposite ending. You got it! mostrar muestre muestres muestre mostremos mostréis muestren
e-i pedir, servir, seguir, medir, despedirse, elegir, repetir, vestirse These verbs are a little different from the e-ie and o-ue verbs as they are not boot verbs. Yes, we do change the stem, but the change is made throughout the verb. pedir pida pidas pida pidamos pidáis pidan
Los Verbos de car, -gar, -zar Remember the preterite tense? Of course you do! -car buscar, sacar, explicar, pescar, practicar, criticar, tocar, marcar For a car verb, what do you change the c to? You said qu, right? buscar busque busques busque busquemos busquéis busquen -gar pegar, pagar, jugar, llegar, despegar, apagar, entregar, castigar Of course you remember by now that the g changes to gu. llegar llegue llegues llegue lleguemos lleguéis lleguen -zar empezar, comenzar, cruzar, aterrizar, rezar, almorzar, gozar Yes, you are correct! The z does in fact change to a c. You know a lot! Keep in mind that some verbs like empezar and comenzar are za stem-changing! empezar empiece empieces empiece empecemos empecéis empiecen
Los Verbos de cer y cir -cer conocer, reconocer, obedecer, ofrecer, agradecer, aparecer, crecer, desaparecer, merecer, nacer, parecer, pertenecer, reconocer, torcer -cir traducir, producir, conducir, reducir What characterizes the cer and cir verbs is the zc. Again, the opposite ending is added. conocer traducir conozca conozcamos traduzca traduzcamos conozcas conozcáis traduzcas traduzcáis conozca conozcan traduzca traduzcan Los Verbos de ger y gir -ger coger, escoger, recoger, proteger -gir elegir, fingir, sugerir, corregir, dirigir, exigir As we want to maintain the soft g sound of these verbs, we change the g to j and add the opposite ending. Don t forget that some of the gir verbs are stem-changing as well. This is fun, isn t it? recoger elegir recoja recojamos elija elijamos recojas recojáis elijas elijáis recoja recojan elija elijan
Los Verbos de guir seguir, conseguir, distinguir, perseguir The verbs that end in guir look scarier than they really are. All you do is drop the -uir and add the opposite endings. Don t forget to keep in mind that seguir and verbs like it are e-i verbs. seguir siga sigas siga sigamos sigáis sigan Los Verbos de uir construir, destruir, distribuir, contribuir, incluir, huir, sustituir, influir These verbs are fun! You are going to add a y and then the opposite ending. construir construya construyas construya construyamos construyáis construyan
Los Verbos Especiales de ir The following ir verbs are special because of their nosotros form. sentirse me sienta te sientas se sienta nos sintamos os sintáis se sientan preferir prefiera prefieras prefiera prefiramos prefiráis prefieran divertirse me divierta te diviertas se divierta nos divirtamos os divirtáis se diviertan dormir duerma duermas duerma durmamos durmáis duerman morir muera mueras muera muramos muráis mueran
Las Excepciones You are not done yet! Fortunately for you there are only two new verbs to learn. enviar envíe envíes envíe enviemos enviéis envíen continuar continúe continúes continúe continuemos continuéis continúen
Los Usos del Presente Subjuntivo So did you enjoy learning how to form the presente subjuntivo? Using it is even more exciting. Manos a la obra! There are two things you must keep in mind in order to determine when you will use the present subjunctive. Always ask yourself these two questions: 1. Is the first verb a WEIRDO verb? 2. Are there two subjects? If the answer is YES to both the questions, you will put the second verb in the present subjunctive. If the answer is NO to any one of these questions, the second verb will NOT go in the subjunctive. So what do I mean by a WEIRDO verb anyway? A WEIRDO verb is any verb which fits into the following categories. Wish; Want Emotion and Es expressions Imposition of Will (SPREAD) R Doubt; Denial Ojalá Do you see where WEIRDO comes from now? Back to the requirement of two subjects. The two subjects appear in their own clauses and are separated by a que.
So what are the WEIRDO verbs? Wish; Want querer desear esperar ejemplos: Quiero que tú vengas a mi fiesta. Ask yourself the two questions. 1. Is querer a WEIRDO verb? Yes it is! 2. Are there two subjects? Yes there are: yo and tú So will I use the subjunctive? Yes. As you can see, the second subject (in the second clause) is in the subjunctive. Más ejemplos: Ella desea que Uds. le escuchen. Nosotros esperamos ir. So why is there no use of the subjunctive in the last example. 1. Esperar is a WEIRDO verb. 2. But are there 2 subjects? No there are not, therefore we do not use the subjunctive.
Emotion There are two different types of Emotion verbs: regular and special verbs with indirect object pronouns. Regular Emotion Verbs There is nothing special about these verbs (other than the tact that they all express emotion.) tener miedo de temer alegrarse de que sentir lamentar enfadarse enojarse estar triste, enfadado(a), contento(a), cualquier adjetivo de emoción Ejemplos: Tenemos miedo de que el perro muerda. Why do we use the subjunctive? Let s ask ourselves the 2 questions. 1. Is tener miedo de a WEIRDO verb? Yes it is. 2. Are there two subjects? Yes there are: nosotros y el perro Más ejemplos: Estás contento que el niño ya no esté enfermo. Ellos se enfadan que yo no tenga tarea. Sara siente no poder verte hoy.
Special Verbs with Indirect Object Pronouns These verbs take the 3 rd person singular form and are accompanied by indirect object pronouns. sorprende Indirect Object Pronouns preocupa importa me nos fastidia te os enfurece le les enfada enoja molesta Ejemplos: Me sorprende que él hable italiano. Nos fastidia que Uds. no hagan nada. Le enfurece a Paloma que su papá no le dé permiso. Te importa que yo no vaya?
Es expressions Es expressions are often referred to as Impersonal Expressions. Pretty much any adjective accompanied by Es comprises an Es expression. There are many Es expressions, but here are some of the most common: Es bueno Es malo Es importante Es necesario Es posible Es probable Es interesante Es lógico Es fantástico Es estupendo Es horroroso Es dudoso Es imposible Es ridículo Es preciso Es una lástima Es triste Ejemplos: Es importante que vayamos a la reunion. Es ridículo que Uds. no trabajen más. Es triste que el niño no tenga comida. Other than Es dudoso, all of these expressions are accompanied by the subjunctive in the negative form as well. No es probable que Anabel te escuche. No es posible que Ramón y Emilia se conozcan.
Excepciones: You will not use the subjunctive when you have the following Es expressions. Es verdad Es cierto Es seguro Está claro Es evidente (Yes, I am aware that this is not the verb ser. ) Es evidente que María no estudia. Es cierto que Pablo y Carlos son amigos. Imposition of Will (SPREAD) We can remember the Imposition of Will through the acronym SPREAD. SPREAD verbs have two things in common: 1. Someone is trying to impose their will on you. 2. They are accompanied by indirect object pronouns which correspond to the verb in the second clause (the second subject.) So where do we get SPREAD? Sugerir (e-ie); Suplicar Pedir (e-i); Prohibir Recomendar (e-ie); Rogar (o-ue) Exigir (g-j) Aconsejar Decir Mandar also falls into this category, however it does not fit into the SPREAD acronym. The verb insistir en belongs her as well, but it is not accompanied by an indirect object pronoun.
Ejemplos: Patricia me sugiere que yo viaje a España. Yo te pido que me compres un perrito. Nuestra profesor nos recomienda que estudiemos más. Los padres de Alejandro le exigen que practique el piano. El entrenador les aconseja a los jugadores que no pierdan. El capitán manda que los soldados le sigan. La enfermera insiste en que el paciente duerma más. Decir is special in that the verb in the second clause can be found in the indicative or the subjunctive. The difference is the context. Mi tía me dice que ella pone la mesa. Mi tía me dice que yo ponga la mesa. The difference is that in the first example, my aunt is telling me something (in other words, she is sharing information with me.) In the second example, she is telling me to actually do something. Like all the other SPREAD verbs, she is trying to impose her will on me or influence me in some way. Doubt and Denial When the following doubt or denial verbs are in the first clause and there are two subjects, the second verb will take the subjunctive form. dudar no creer no pensar no hay duda es dudoso Ejemplos: Dudamos que Silvia entienda lo que pasó Es dudoso que Uds. puedan acompañarnos.
Excepciones: no dudar creer pensar no es dudoso When we use these verbs in the first clause, the verbs in the second clause do NOT take the subjunctive. Pensamos que ella es muy simpatico. Creo que Manuel conduce bien. Ojalá We ve saved the easiest for last. Ojalá is always followed by the subjunctive. You can either use Ojalá or Ojalá que. Ojalá expresses the idea of, I really hope, if only, God grant, etc. Ojalá is stronger than Espero que. Ejemplos: Ojalá mi papá me compre un coche. Ojalá que nosotros aprobemos el examen.