Present Subjunctive

The present subjunctive is used in different scenarios, mainly to express subjectivity or doubt.

Normal verb tenses communicate actions that have already happened, are happening or are going to happen (with a degree of certainty). These are referred to as the ‘indicative’.

The subjunctive is referred to as a ‘mood’ rather than a tense. It can express possibility or hypothetical situations, things that may or may not actually happen.

The acronym “WEIRDO” may help:

• Wish/Will/When – you are putting your wish or will on someone else and after the word “when”
• Emotion – you are expressing an emotion about a situation
• Impersonal Statement – these still express subjective feelings but in a less personal way
• Recommendations/Requests – subjective ideas about how you want something to be done
• Doubt/denial – anything that is less than certain!
• Ojalá – similar to “if only” or “hopefully”

Sentences requiring the subjunctive will normally require the word “que” to trigger the subjunctive. There are a couple of exceptions like tal vez and cuando.

To form the subjunctive for most verbs we will:

1. find the ‘yo’ form of the present tense: E.g. tengo/pienso/hablo/como/escribo.
2. remove the -o and and the appropriate subjunctive ending.

Note that stem changing verbs in present tense will remain stem-changing in the present subjunctive.

Endings for the present subjunctive: You will switch the AR endings for ER and the ER/IR verbs will carry the AR endings.
The ‘yo’ form will carry the same ending as third-person singular.

Some verbs are completely irregular and do not follow this pattern. Here are a few examples:

• Ir = vaya
• Ser = sea
• Haber = haya