Español 30

Lección Estructuras Práctica Asignación

6.02 Actividades en España

Now that you have been introduced to the subjunctive and the indicative moods, let's learn how to form the subjunctive. You may remember that when you are conjugating the verbs in the indicative mood, most of the forms would contain an "a" if it was an –ar verb, and an "e" if it was an –er verb. Well, opposite to the indicative, the subjunctive mood is formed by the endings going into e's if they are –ar verbs, and into a's if they are –er/-ir verbs. If you review the formal and negative commands, you will find that these aren't so hard to remember. 

Note that the base for the subjunctive is the verb conjugation for "yo" in the indicative.  For the regular -ar verbs you take out the "o" from the "yo" conjugation and add the following endings: -e, -es, -e, -emos, -éis, -en. For the regular -er and -ir verbs you take out the "o" from the "yo" conjugation and add the following endings: -a, -as, -a, -amos, -áis, -an. Take a look at how it goes:


Regular verbs

Do you remember the "yo" conjugation of "hablar", "comer" and "vivir" in the present?

Indicative Subjunctive
Yo hablo
 Yo hable Nosotros hablemos
Tú hables Vosotros habléis
Él / ella /Ud. hable Ellos(as) Uds. hablen
Indicative Subjunctive
Yo como
 Yo coma Nosotros comamos
Tú comas Vosotros comáis
Él / ella /Ud. coma Ellos(as) Uds. coman

Indicative
Subjunctive
Yo vivo
 Yo viva Nosotros vivamos
Tú vivas Vosotros viváis
Él / ella /Ud. viva Ellos(as) Uds. vivan

Irregular verbs

This rule applies to all regular verbs in the subjunctive. You may be wondering, are there any irregular verbs in the subjunctive? Glad you asked! Yes, there are just as many irregular verbs in the subjunctive as there are in the indicative mood. In fact, a lot of the verbs that are irregular in the indicative mood are also irregular in the subjunctive.

Verbs that are irregular in the yo form in the indicative will carry these irregularities through all the forms of the verb in the subjunctive.

   Infinitive  Indicative "Yo" form  Subjunctive
 to know
conocer conozco

conozca, conozcas,

conozca, conozcamos,

conozcáis, conozcan

 to say
decir digo

diga, digas,

diga, digamos,

digáis, digan

 to do
hacer hago

haga, hagas,

haga, hagamos,

hagáis, hagan

 to hear/to listen
oír oigo

oiga, oigas,

oiga, oigamos,

oigáis, oigan

 to put/to place
poner pongo

ponga, pongas,

ponga, pongamos,

pongáis, pongan

 to exit
salir salgo

salga, salgas,

salga, salgamos,

salgáis, salgan

 to have
tener tengo

tenga, tengas,

tenga, tengamos,

tengáis, tengan

 to bring
traer traigo

traiga, traigas,

traiga, traigamos,

traigáis, traigan

 to come
venir vengo

venga, vengas,

venga, vengamos,

vengáis, vengan

Any verb that has an irregularity in the yo form of the indicative mood will have the same irregularity with all the forms in the subjunctive. Like in the indicative mood, verbs that end in -car, -gar, and -zar carry a spell change in all the forms of the subjunctive.

-car: c —> qu tocar: toque, toques, toque,
toquemos, toquéis, toquen
gar: g —> gu pagar: pague, pagues, pague,
paguemos, paguéis, paguen
-zar z —> c alzar: alce, alces, alce,
alcemos, alcéis, alcen

Stem-changing verbs in the subjunctive


The –ar and –er verbs that have a stem change in the indicative will have the same change in the subjunctive.


contar perder
cuente contemos pierda perdamos
cuentes contéis pierdas perdáis
cuente cuenten pierda pierdan


Stem changing verbs that end in –ir will have an additional change in the nosotros and vosotros form (e to i/o to u), aside from the change you already know. Here is what it looks like:

prefiera prefiramos
prefieras prefiráis
prefiera prefieran
sirva sirvamos
sirvas sirvamos
sirva sirvan
duerma durmamos
duermas durmáis
duerma duerman


Verbs in the subjunctive that follow no pattern (You need to know these verbs)


Now, in the subjunctive mood there are irregular verbs that follow no real pattern and have no link to the indicative mood.


dar estar ir
Yo dé esté vaya
Tú des estés vayas
Él/ella/Ud. dé esté vaya
Nosotros demos estemos vayamos
Vosotros deis estéis vayáis
Ellos(as)/Uds. den estén vayan


saber ser ver
Yo sepa sea vea
Tú sepas seas veas
Él/ella/Ud. sepa sea vea
Nosotros sepamos seamos veamos
Vosotros sepáis seáis veáis
Ellos(as)/Uds. sepan sean vean



The verb hay (there is/there are) changes to haya in the subjunctive.

Now, in the subjunctive mood there are irregular verbs that follow no real pattern and have no link to the indicative mood. You can watch this video for further explanation. Select "Full screeen" to see the video on your screen.



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