Forming the Present Subjunctive
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Forming the Present Subjunctive What is the Subjunctive? I’m not answering that question here. Suffice it to say that it’s a new verb form. Here you’ll be learning to form the present subjunctive. The present tense you learned in Chapter 1 (hablo, hablas, habla, etc.) is called the present indicative. The way you form the present subjunctive is different from the way you form all the tenses you’ve studied up until this point. You don’t go to the infinitive; you go to the first person singular (“yo”) form of the verb: tengo hablo quiero hablo tengo Drop the –o: habl- teng- If the verb is an –ar verb, add the following endings: If the verb is an –er or –ir verb, add the following endings: -e -es -e -a -as -a -emos -éis -en hable hablemos hables habléis hable hablen tenga tengas tenga -amos -áis -an tengamos tengáis tengan Do NOT take shortcuts. Do NOT look at a word like “vive” and think, “Oh, to make it subjunctive, I just have to change the “e” to an “a.” That happens to give you the right answer for “vive,” but it doesn’t for words like “conoce” (> conozca), “pone” (> ponga), “dice” (> diga), etc. Be sure that you know all verbs that are irregular in the present tense (tener, venir, traer, etc.) and all stem-changing verbs; you can’t form the present subjunctive if you don’t know how to form the present indicative (hablo, como, vivo, tengo, traigo, etc.). Click here to go to a brief practice exercise. Spell-Change Verbs Remember how the “yo” form of these verbs underwent a spelling change in the preterit? • pagar > pagué • buscar > busqué • almorzar > almorcé -gar, -car, and –zar verbs are going to spell change in the present subjunctive just like they did in the preterit. But this time, they’re going to change all the way through, not just in the “yo” form, because they have an –e in all persons: pague paguemos pagues paguéis pague paguen busque busquemos busques busquéis busque busquen almuerce almorcemos almuerces almorcéis almuerce almuercen Click here to go to a brief practice exercise. Stem-changing Verbs In the present subjunctive, -ar and –er verbs stem change in exactly the same places they do in the present indicative. Present indicative Present subjunctive quiero quieres quiere queremos quiera queréis QUERER quieras quieren quiera queramos queráis quieran pienso piensas piensa pensamos piense pensáis PENSAR pienses piensan piense pensemos pensáis piensen -ir verbs, however, behave differently. In the present indicative, NO verb stem changes in the “nosotros” and “vosotros” forms. pedir pido pides pide pedimos pedís piden But in the present subjunctive, -ir verbs (NEVER –er or –ar verbs) change in the “nosotros” and “vosotros” forms: pida pidas pida pidamos pidáis pidan A very important note about these changes . . . . . . is that the “nosotros” and “vosotros” forms in the subjunctive get just an i or just a u. Present indicative siento sientes siente Present subjunctive sentimos sienta sentís SENTIR sientas sienten sienta sintamos sintáis sientan duermo dormimos duerma durmamos duermes dormís DORMIR duermas durmáis duerme duermen duerma duerman Compare –ar, -er, and –ir stem-changing verbs in the present indicative and present subjunctive. Present Indicative pensar pienso pensamos piensas pensáis piensa piensan querer quiero quieres quiere queremos queréis quieren sentir siento sentimos sientes sentís siente sienten Present Subjunctive piense pensemos pienses penseis piense piensen quiera quieras quiera queramos querais quieran sienta sintamos sientas sintais sienta sientan Click here to go to a brief practice exercise. Irregular Subjunctives There are five irregular verbs in the subjunctive, five verbs that DON’T follow the “drop the –o from the ‘yo’ form and add the appropriate ending” rule. Two of them aren’t that strange; you just drop –oy instead of – o and then add the appropriate endings: estar (estoy) esté estés esté estemos estéis estén dar (doy) dé* des dé* *The accent mark over the –e distinguishes this word from the preposition “de.” demos deis den You have to memorize the other three, however: ser saber sea seamos seas seáis sea sean sepa sepamos sepas sepáis sepa sepan ir vaya vayamos vayas vayáis vaya vayan Don’t get the subjunctive of “ser” and “saber” mixed up. Remember that both “ser” and its subjunctive “sea” have three letters. Click here to go to your homework on subjunctive formation.
