THE PRESENT SUBJUNCTIVE
Espero que tengas un buen viaje. “I hope you have a good trip.” You will hear sentences like this every day. Tengas is a present subjunctive form: here, it follows an expression of hope.
The subjunctive is a mood, a way of presenting an action. It has several tenses of its own. Start with the present: it appears in wishes, requests, reactions and doubts about now or the future.
Start with a useful sentence
Quiero que me llames esta tarde.
I want you to call me this afternoon.
Quiero tells us what I want; llames tells us what I want you to do. Spanish joins the two parts with que and puts the second verb in the subjunctive. Learn quiero que as a phrase, along with the form that follows it.
Compare quiero salir (“I want to go out”) with quiero que salgas (“I want you to go out”). With querer, use the infinitive when the same person wants and acts. Use que and the subjunctive when the person doing the second action is someone else.
The regular endings
Remove -ar and add -e, -es, -e, -emos, -éis, -en. For -er and -ir verbs, use -a, -as, -a, -amos, -áis, -an. Hablar becomes hable; comer becomes coma; vivir becomes viva.
| Person | hablar | comer | vivir |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | hable | coma | viva |
| tú | hables | comas | vivas |
| él / ella / usted | hable | coma | viva |
| nosotros / nosotras | hablemos | comamos | vivamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | habléis | comáis | viváis |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | hablen | coman | vivan |
For many verbs, the yo form of the present indicative gives you the stem: remove the -o, then add these endings. Tengo gives tenga; hago gives haga; conozco gives conozca. This is a useful starting point, though some verbs need extra attention.
When to use it
Necesito que me ayudes con la cena.
I need you to help me with dinner.
Me alegra que estés aquí.
I’m glad you’re here.
No creo que la tienda esté abierta.
I don’t think the shop is open.
These sentences express a need, a feeling and a belief the speaker does not hold. Notice that “I’m glad you’re here” can describe something perfectly real. The subjunctive is not simply a way to mark things as uncertain.
Que alone does not tell you which mood to use. Compare creo que está abierta (“I think it is open”) with no creo que esté abierta (“I don’t think it is open”). The expression before que matters.
Stems and spelling
With -ar and -er verbs such as pensar and volver, the familiar stem change disappears in nosotros and vosotros: piense, but pensemos; vuelva, but volvamos.
Stem-changing -ir verbs also change in nosotros and vosotros. Dormir gives duerma, durmamos, durmáis; pedir gives pida, pidamos, pidáis. Learn those two plural forms alongside the yo form.
Other changes keep the sound of the stem: buscar becomes busque, llegar becomes llegue and empezar becomes empiece. In empecemos, the z still changes to c, even though the stem vowel stays e.
Common irregular forms
A few common verbs do not follow the yo-minus-o shortcut. These forms are worth learning together:
Ser follows sea, seas, sea, seamos, seáis, sean. Pay attention to accents in estar and dar: esté, estés, esté, estemos, estéis, estén; dé, des, dé, demos, deis, den.
Present forms, future meaning
Te llamaré cuando llegue a casa.
I’ll call you when I get home.
The arrival is still ahead, so cuando takes the subjunctive here. For a habit, use the indicative: cuando llego a casa, preparo la cena (“When I get home, I make dinner”).
If you have read the conditional lesson, you have also met si tuviera más tiempo. Tuviera belongs to the imperfect subjunctive. Keep that pattern separate from the present forms you are learning here: espero que tengas tiempo (“I hope you have time”).
Try making one request with necesito que and one wish with espero que. Then practise the verb forms below, so you can recall them more easily when you need them in a sentence.
Further reading: RAE: choosing the indicative or subjunctive.