EL SUBJUNTIVO It’s all in the mood!

Verbs show the action and they also show a tense and a mood.

 The

tense

tells you the time of the action  Present, preterit, future, etc are tenses.

 The mood tells the speaker’s attitude towards the action.

 Indicative, commands and the subjunctive are moods.

The indicative moods tells it like it is:  Juan es mi novio.

Juan is my boyfriend.

 Ayer, fuimos al cine.

Yesterday, we went to the movie.

A command tells someone to do something.

  Vayan Uds. a la tienda.



You (pl.) go to the store.

Rafael, despiértese a las seis.



Rafael, get up at six.

 Escuchen Uds. a la maestra siempre.



You(pl.) listen to the teacher always.

The subjunctive mood wishes, suggests and fantasizes about things.

 I suggest that Juan drive.

 Sugiero que Juan conduzca.

 She wants her daughter to be a princess. . .

 Ella quiere que su hija sea princesa. . .

The subjunctive is rarely used in English and sounds strange to those who are not highly educated.

Huh?

INDICATIVE SUBJUNCTIVE  You are late.

 It is important that you be on time.

 I am sick.

 Juan studies.

 I wish I were not sick.

 The teacher insists that he study.

In Spanish, the subjunctive is used

a lot

, and you need to use it to prove that you are not ignorant.

   Sugiero que mires cuando andas en bote.

 I suggest that you look when you ride in a boat.

Es importante que sepas adonde va el río.

 It’s important that you know where the river goes.

Dudo que vayas a sobrevivir el accidente.

 I doubt that you will survive the accident.

•Both the Indicative mood and the Subjunctive mood are used in compound sentences which are connected by que.

•The mood that is used depends on the Main Clause.

 La gente sabe que la verdad es la mejor. (indicative)  People know that the truth is best.

 No creo que Brian venga a la fiesta a las ocho.

(subjunctive)  I don’t believe that Brian will come to the party at eight.

The INDICATIVE MOOD is objective and used to describe facts, it states what is certain.

 Estoy seguro que Juan va con nosotros.

 I am certain that Juan is going with us.

 Es cierto que la falda roja es de algodón.

 There’s no doubt that the red skirt is made of cotton.

 La maestra dice que hay un examen hoy.

 The teacher says that there’s a test today.

The SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD is subjective, it expresses feelings, judgments and emotions about an action.

 It is bad that we can’t go.

 Es horrible que no

podamos

ir.

 It is scandalous that she is wearing that dress.

 Es escandaloso que ella

lleve

ese vestido.

 It bothers me that he can’t come to the meeting.

 Me molesta que él no

pueda

venir a la reunión.

Notice that the SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD consists of two clauses, joined together by “que” : Main Clause Conj.

Dependent Clause  It is bad -Es horrible  It’s scandalous Es escandaloso  It bothers me Me molesta that que that que that que we can’t go.

no

podamos

ir.

she is wearing that dress.

ella

lleve

ese vestido.

he can’t come.

él no

pueda

venir

For the dependent clause to be subjunctive, the main clause must state the following:

 Impose will.

 Necessity.  Emotion.

 Doubt.

 Possibility.

I want you to study tonight.

It is necessary that you leave now.

I hope that you find the money.

I doubt that he knows the answer.

It is possible that he is coming.

To form the Present Subjunctive tense :

 Start with the present tense, yo form of the verb  Tener – Tengo  Remove the O – Teng  Add the opposite ending just like we did to make commands.

Present Subjunctive of Tener tenga tengas tenga tengamos tengáis tengan

Present Subjunctive of cuidar (to care for) cuide cuides cuide cuidemos cuidéis cuiden