CHAPTER ONE
Spanish Subjunctive Conjugations
Rob Ashby
The Spanish Obsessive
- What is the subjunctive? A brief introduction
- Spanish subjunctive conjugations: Verb forms and quiz (this chapter)
- Spanish subjunctive uses and meanings
- Deep dive 1: Noun clauses
- Deep dive 2: Adjective clauses
- Deep dive 3: Additional uses
- 33 Spanish subjunctive phrases to memorise now
In this chapter, we’ll be looking at how to conjugate verbs in the subjunctive. Here’s what we’ll be covering:
Conjugations for the present simple subjunctive Conjugations for the imperfect subjunctive
We’ll be doing the above for regular and irregular verbs. However, this is not an exhaustive list (this guide is already long enough!).
If you are already comfortable with these conjugations, feel free to skip to the next chapter.
Forming the present subjunctive
The easiest way to remember this is to think about switching the ending, and think of the yo form:
-AR verbs switch their endings to -ER verbs
-ER and -IR verbs switch to -AR endings
All the conjugations are based on the yo form of the indicative tense (ie, the normal one that you use!)
For -ar verbs, those endings are: -e, -es, -e, -emos, -éis, -en.
Let’s take trabajar as an example:
yo trabaje (trabaj comes from the yo form: yo trabajo)
tú trabajes
él, ella, usted trabaje
nosotros trabajemos
ustedes, ellos trabajen
For -er verbs, those endings are: -a, -as, -a, -amos, -áis, -an.
Let’s try that with comer:
yo coma (com comes from the yo form of the verb in indicative: yo como )
tú comas
él, ella, usted coma
nosotros comamos
ustedes, ellos coman
The “go” verbs
These guidelines also hold true for those verbs which are very irregular in the yo ordinary tense. Remember the incredibly common -go verbs? Let’s take a look:
1. We’ll start with tener. The yo, indicative form of tener is tengo:
| Verb | Tener |
|---|---|
|
Yo form in normal tense |
Tengo |
2. Tener is an -er ending verb. So, we switch the ending to the -ar endings: -a, -as, -a, -amos, -áis, -an
| Verb | Tener |
|---|---|
|
Yo form in indicative tense |
Tengo |
|
Yo in subjunctive |
Tenga |
|
Tú |
Tengas |
|
Él, ella, usted |
Tenga |
|
Nosotros, nosotras |
Tengamos |
|
Ustedes, ellos, ellas |
Tengan |
|
Vosotros, vosotras |
Tengáis |
The same applies for the other “go” ending verbs. These are all either -er or -ir ending, so share the same -ar endings in the subjunctive:
| Pronoun | Tener | Salir | Poner | Hacer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Yo form in indicative tense |
Tengo |
Salgo |
Pongo |
Hago |
|
Yo (subjunctive) |
Tenga |
Salga |
Ponga |
Haga |
|
Tú |
Tengas |
Salas |
Pongas |
Hagas |
|
El, ella, usted |
Tenga |
Salga |
Ponga |
Haga |
|
Nosotros, as |
Tengamos |
Salgamos |
Pongamos |
Hagamos |
|
Ustedes, ellos, ellas |
Tengan |
Salgan |
Pongan |
Hagan |
|
Vosotros,as |
Tengáis |
Salgáis |
Pongáis |
Hagáis |
Learner’s advice
These might seem overwhelming – I know they did at first for me! My general advice (and this applies to all grammar, really, but in particular verb conjugations) is to aim for familiarity. You just need to be familiar enough with these forms that you will recognise them when you see them again, and none of them (or at least very few) come as a complete surprise to you.
I honestly don’t remember poring over verb tables for hours. I got familiar by looking at them from time to time, but it’s really once you started hearing and using these forms that you’ll learn them properly, and they’ll become second-nature.
The stem-changing verbs
The same principle is at play with the stem changing verbs (also known as “radical-changing verbs”):
1. Start with the yo, indicative form. Let’s take pensar: Yo pienso
| Verb | Pensar |
|---|---|
|
Yo form in normal tense |
Pienso |
2. Pensar is an-ar ending verb. So, we switch to the -er endings: -e, -es, -e, -emos, -éis, -en
| Verb | Pensar |
|---|---|
|
Yo (indicative) |
Pienso
|
|
Yo (subjunctive), él, ella |
Piense |
|
Tú |
Pienses |
|
Ustedes, ellos, ellas |
Piensen |
This works for yo, tú, él, and ellos. However, the nosotros and vosotros forms keep the non-changed stem: pens
| Verb | Pensar |
|---|---|
|
Nosotros, nosotras |
Pensemos |
|
Vosotros, vosotras |
Penséis |
The other stem-changing verbs follow the same pattern:
| Pronoun | Pensar | Poder | Volver |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Yo (indicative) |
Pienso |
Puedo |
Vuelvo |
|
Yo (subjunctive) |
Piense |
Pueda |
Vuelva |
|
Tú |
Pienses |
Puedas |
Vuelvas |
|
El, ella, usted |
Piense |
Pueda |
Vuelva |
|
Nosotros, as |
Pensemos |
Podamos |
Volvamos |
|
Ustedes, ellos, ellas |
Piensen |
Puedan |
Vuelvan |
Test your memory
Forming the imperfect subjunctive
Yes, there is a whole extra set of conjugations…! However, if you know the preterite (sometimes called the past simple), you’ll learn them quickly. Even if you don’t know the preterite, it shouldn’t take you long to pick these up.
The key things to know:
The stem comes from the ellos form of the preterite, minus -aron or -ieron
Can’t remember what that is? Let’s take a couple of examples to jog your memory. We’ve highlighted the stems:
Tener: Tuvieron
Hablar: Hablaron
Decir: Dijeron
There are two possible forms, both with exactly the same meaning
However, the first form is always more common:
- Hablara, Hablaras, Hablara, Habláramos, Hablarais, Hablaran, OR
- Hablase, Hablases, Hablase, Hablásemos, Hablaseis, Hablasen
Or for an -er or -ir verb:
- Comiera, comieras, comiera, comiéramos, comierais, comieran OR
- Comiese, comieses, comiese, comiésemos, comieseis, comiesen
The principle works in the same way for the stem changing verbs:
| Pronoun | Dar | Estar | Ser | Tener |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Yo |
Diera |
Estuviera |
Fuera |
Tuviera |
|
Tú |
Dieras |
Estuvieras |
Fueras |
Tuvieras |
|
El, ella, usted |
Diera |
Estuviera |
Fuera |
Tuviera |
|
Nosotros, as |
Dieramos |
Estuvieramos |
Fueramos |
Tuvieramos |
|
Ustedes, ellos, ellas |
Dieran |
Estuvieran |
Fueran |
Tuvieran |
