Spanish Subjunctive (Uses and Explanations)

The Uses of the Subjunctive

In Spanish and English, the subjunctive is a mood, not a tense. This is because it indicates personal feeling, including expressions of doubt, desire, your emotion/feeling about something, and whether you think something is true or not.

We also have the subjunctive in English, although its use is much rarer than it is in Spanish. For example:

I wouldn’t do that, if I were you

I’d prefer he go to the party

I insisted he buy the dog

In each of these examples, the subjunctive mood is triggered by the action of the subject, indicating uncertainty, desire, or doubt. The conjugation of the following verb then changes to reflect this change in mood.

The Uses of the Spanish Subjunctive

In contrast to English, Spanish uses the subjunctive extensively.

There are 6 main uses of the subjunctive in Spanish:

1. The Present Subjunctive
2. The Imperfect (Past) Subjunctive
3. The Future Subjunctive
4. The Preterite Perfect Subjunctive
5. The Past Perfect Subjunctive
6. The Future Perfect Subjunctive

Each of these cases perform a certain role and are usually triggered by certain phrases, including the following:

1. Quiero que (I want that)
2. Ojalá (Hopefully)
3. Evitar que (To avoid that)
4. Necesitar que (To need that)
5. A menos que (Unless)
6. Antes de que (Before)
7. Después de que (After)

With each of these trigger phrases, the subject is expressing doubt, desire, or uncertainty about a certain outcome, in contrast to the indicative mood, which states facts.

Each of the different tenses of the subjunctive mood are linked to the tense of the trigger phrase. For example:

1. Quiero que hables (I want you to speak): Present Subjunctive
2. Quería que hablaras (I wanted you to speak): Imperfect Subjunctive
3. Querré que hablares (I will want you to speak): Future Subjunctive
4. Quiero que hayas hablado (I want you to have spoken): Preterite Perfect Subjunctive
5. Quería que hubieras hablado (I wanted you to have spoken): Past Perfect Subjunctive
6. Querré que hubieres hablado (I will want you to have spoken): Future Perfect Subjunctive

As these examples illustrate, the correct conjugation of the subjunctive verb is always determined by the conjugation of the subject verb. In this case, querer (I want) was conjugated into the present, past, and future tenses, while hablar (to speak) was matched accordingly.

The Conjugation of the Spanish Subjunctive

As with other verbs, there are conjugation rules to follow when dealing with the subjunctive. The following conjugation deals with hablar (to speak). Notice how, when the stem habl- is isolated, the -ar ending is often switched and treated like an -er ending. If we were conjugating an -er verb like comer (to eat), we would reverse it and use -ar endings instead.

Present Subjunctive

Yo hable (I speak)

Tú hables (You speak)

Él/Ella hable (He/She speaks)

Nosotros hablemos (We speak)

Vosotros habléis (You *plural speak)

Ellos/Ellas hablen (They speak)

Imperfect Subjunctive

Yo hablara (I spoke)

Tú hablaras (You spoke)

Él/Ella hablara (He/She spoke)

Nosotros habláramos (We spoke)

Vosotros hablarais (You *plural spoke)

Ellos/Ellas hablaran (They spoke)

Future Subjunctive

Yo hablare (I will speak)

Tú hablares (You will speak)

Él/Ella hablare (He/She will speak)

Nosotros habláremos (We will speak)

Vosotros hablareis (You *plural will speak)

Ellos/Ellas hablaren (They will speak)

Preterite Perfect Subjunctive

Yo haya hablado (I have spoken)

Tú hayas hablado (You have spoken)

Él/Ella haya hablado (He/She has spoken)

Nosotros hayamos hablado (We have spoken)

Vosotros hayáis hablado (You *plural have spoken)

Ellos/Ellas hayan hablado (They have spoken)

Past Perfect Subjunctive

Yo hubiera hablado (I had spoken)

Tú hubieras hablado (You had spoken)

Él/Ella hubiera hablado (He/She had spoken)

Nosotros hubiéramos hablado (We had spoken)

Vosotros hubierais hablado (You *plural had spoken)

Ellos/Ellas hubieran hablado (They had spoken)

Future Perfect Subjunctive

Yo hubiere hablado (I will have spoken)

Tú hubieres hablado (You will have spoken)

Él/Ella hubiere hablado (He/She will have spoken)

Nosotros hubiéremos hablado (We will have spoken)

Vosotros hubiereis hablado (You *plural will have spoken)

Ellos/Ellas hubieren hablado (They will have spoken)

With all these conjugations, remember that learning Spanish does not mean memorizing 36 conjugations per verb. With consistent practice and immersion in Spanish, you will gain intuition and you will know how to use the Spanish Subjunctive without the aid of a conjugation chart.