The Spanish Subjunctive: A Simplified Guide To Express Your Opinions and Desires

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The Spanish subjunctive may be a little challenging to learn, yet with the help of the simplified rules in this article, you’ll find that the subjunctive is fairly easy to pick up as you learn Spanish. En pocas palabras (in a few words), the subjunctive is a Spanish grammatical mood (not a tense) used to express necessity, emotions, desires, and doubts. We use it to think about possibilities or uncertainties.

As part of Spanish grammar, learning the subjunctive will make you sound more sophisticated when you speak. But the subjunctive need not be monotonous to learn—mastering it can be quite satisfying, and TruAccent can help you with your pronunciation in the process.

What is the Spanish subjunctive?

Before diving into the subjunctive, let’s clarify what we mean by “mood.” As in English, there are three grammatical moods in Spanish: the indicative for certainties or facts; the imperative for commands; and the subjunctive for wishes, desires, necessities, opinions, and emotions. 

From these three broad grammatical categories, moods are broken down into tenses that help us talk about time periods such as the past, present, and future. The Spanish imperative mood is only used for dialogue in the present tense, and the preterite tense in Spanish is often used for past tense. The indicative is the mood with the most tenses, while the subjunctive can be used with various tenses. Most often though, you’ll use the present tense in dialogue. 

4 ways to use the subjunctive mood in Spanish

Now that you understand what grammatical moods are, you’re ready to get familiar with the Spanish subjunctive. The subjunctive is used for actions that might occur but aren’t certain or for emotions that express a desired action that may or may not occur. The uncertainty lies between what the person wants to happen and the reality of it actually happening. Since there’s an implication of a possible action, the subjunctive often carries a slight sense of a future action. This will become clearer as you read some of the examples below.

One important aspect to remember about the subjunctive is this: The subject of the sentence—the one(s) feeling, doubting, or wanting—is different from the object of the sentence, which is the person or thing receiving the action. In other words, we rarely use the subjunctive when a person is talking about himself or herself.

Wishes, desires, preferences, and requests

You can use the subjunctive to express something you would like to happen or even something you would like someone to do. Sometimes a subjunctive phrase expresses a general desire or wish you might have.

• Yo quiero que él cierre la puerta. = I want him to close the door.
• La doctora pide que tú saques el estudio médico. = The (female) doctor asks that you do this medical test.
• Ojalá que llueva pronto. = May it rain soon.

Necessity or recommendations

Necessity is closely linked to wishes or desires, since you can express the need for someone else to do something. Just because you express this need doesn’t mean it will happen, which is how you end up with the uncertainty of the subjunctive.

• Es necesario que tomes este curso para graduar. = It’s necessary that you take this course in order to graduate.

Emotions

The subjunctive is not always used to express emotions, but it tends to be used with certain phrases that may include emotions. In the example below, what’s implied but not written is “I feel that…” 

• Es una lástima que tú te vayas tan temprano. = It’s a shame that you are leaving so early.

Possibility or doubt (in the affirmative)

You’ve already read about how there can be doubt between a desire (something imagined) and reality. Some uses of the subjunctive include clear doubt but only when used in the affirmative form:

• Ella duda que Sergio llegue a tiempo. = She doubts that Sergio will arrive on time.

When verbs indicating uncertainty such as dudar (to doubt) or negar (to negate) are used in the negative form, the indicative mood is used:

• Ella no duda que Sergio llegue a tiempo. = She does not doubt that Sergio will arrive on time.

The negative form has no room for doubt, so it is a certainty.

Phrases used with the subjunctive

By now, you have probably noticed that the subjunctive tends to use certain verbs or phrases in the beginning of the sentence like querer (to want, desire) or dudar (to doubt). These verbs, phrases, or individual words set up the sentence for the use of the subjunctive and are called “trigger phrases.” Basically, they trigger the use of the subjunctive mood in the second part of the sentence, usually following the word que (that):

• ¡Es increíble que puedas ir a Valencia gratis! = It’s incredible that you can go to Valencia for free!

In the previous example, es increíble que is the trigger phrase, and the verb puedas is the conjugated form of the verb poder (to be able to, can) in the subjunctive.

The table below lists a few of the many phrases and verbs that trigger the use of the subjunctive. You’ll see that the trigger phrase verbs have been conjugated in the table. Some phrases such as es posible que (it’s possible that) are impersonal and abstract, so tend not to have any variation.

Other verbs like preferir que (to prefer that) can be fully conjugated with any pronoun (I prefer, you prefer, etc.). Some trigger phrases or words, such as quizás (perhaps), are not verbs at all. The verb in the subjunctive conjugation immediately follows the trigger phrase.

Things to watch for with subjunctive trigger phrases

For the record, a few trigger phrases can be used with the subjunctive or the indicative depending on the context. You’ll learn more about these details as you learn Spanish since this post is just an overview of this topic.

You can also use the subjunctive without trigger phrases, especially when expressing a friendly wish to someone. In English, these are translated into the imperative mood, but this is actually the subjunctive in Spanish:

• Que te vaya bien. = Be well. (in the sense of “may things go well for you.”)
• Que duermas rico. = Sleep well.
• Que tengas un bonito día. = Have a nice day.

Tenses and conjugations used with the subjunctive

Now that you have learned how to use the subjunctive, it’s time to talk about tenses and conjugations for the Spanish subjunctive. Although the subjunctive is a grammatical mood used with certain trigger phrases, verbs, or words, it can be expressed in a variety of tenses. Each tense has its own conjugation for the common Spanish pronouns.

Present tense subjunctive in Spanish: regular verbs

As mentioned earlier, the subjunctive is especially useful in the present tense. In this case, both the trigger phrase and the subjunctive are in the present tense.

To conjugate Spanish subjunctive regular verbs in the present tense, find the verb stem by removing the –AR, -ER, or -IR, from the infinitive. Then add the corresponding suffix according to the chart below. 

These endings are the opposite of what they are for –AR, –ER, or -IR verbs in the present tense. The charts below use the modal verbs hablar (to speak) and comer (to eat) to show the present tense subjunctive mood.

Regular -AR verbs 

*used in most of Spain

Regular -ER and -IR verbs 

*used in most of Spain

Irregular verbs for the present tense subjunctive

Familiarizing yourself with all of the Spanish irregular verbs in the present tense subjunctive is best left for when you are deep into the process of learning how to speak Spanish. For now, you can check out the following helpful tips for how irregular verbs work with the subjunctive.

• Stem-changing or spelling-changes verbs: These are verbs whose stem and/or spelling changes significantly in the process of conjugation. The verb empezar (to begin) is an example. The “z” changes to “ce” (a spelling change), and the “e” changes to “ie” (a stem change) to form, in the first person singular, empiece.
• Yo form verbs: Quite a few verbs in the present tense subjunctive use the yo (I) form as their stem, which then gets combined with the regular endings (listed above). An example of this is the verb hacer (to make/do), whose full conjugation in the present tense subjunctive as: yo haga, tú hagas, el/ella/usted haga, nosotros hagamos, vosotros hagáis, ustedes hagan.
• Truly irregular verbs: There are only six truly irregular verbs in the present subjunctive in Spanish: dar (to give), estar (to be), haber (to have, as an auxiliary verb), ir (to go), and saber (to know), and ser (to be). 

Other tenses used in the subjunctive mood

There are a couple more tenses that are often used in the subjunctive mood, though you’ll see we don’t include the future tense since it’s rarely used in this mood. These tenses have been included so you will recognize them as you advance in your learning.

Present perfect subjunctive

The Spanish present perfect subjunctive can be used with a trigger phrase in the present tense to talk about something that might have occurred in the past. You’ll form it with the auxiliary verb haber (to have) and the present participle:

• Espero que hayas comprado un boleto. = I hope you have bought a ticket.

Imperfect subjunctive

The Spanish imperfect subjunctive begins with a trigger phrase to express a longstanding feeling, wish, or need in the past that is followed by the subjunctive with a distinct conjugation.

• Yo quería que tú tuvieras una mejor vida. = I wanted you to have a better life.

Conquer the Spanish subjunctive easily

As you start to learn a new language, you’ll master some basic grammar and vocabulary with lots of practice. In today’s digital age, you can skip the endless lists and conjugations when it comes to language learning. Instead, Rosetta Stone works by tapping into your innate ability to learn a language just as you did as a child: through verbal and visual clues. These will assist you in learning the subjunctive in a natural way, especially if you work with one of our tutors.