The subjunctive is not used very often
in English, but is is very common and important
in Spanish. Some command forms are actually the
subjunctive, so the formation of the present subjunctive
should not be too difficult.
Present Subjunctive
| -ar
verbs |
-er
and -ir |
-e
-es
-e |
-emos
-éis
-en |
-a
-as
-a |
-amos
-áis
-an |
The past subjunctive is formed from
the third person plural of the preterite. Remove
the -on ending, and add these new endings:
Past Subjunctive
| all verbs |
-a
-as
-a |
-amos
-ais
-an |
An accent is added to the stem vowel
as well in the first person plural form. Instead
of hablaramos, it is habláramos; instead of comieramos,
it is comiéramos, etc. Note that there is another
way to form the past subjunctive (a different set
of endings), but the endings given are used more
often.
The present perfect subjunctive is formed with
the present subjunctive of haber and the past participle
of the main verb. Similarly, the past perfect subjunctive
is formed with the past subjunctive of haber and
the past participle of the main verb.
| Present
perfect subjunctive |
|
Past perfect
subjunctive |
haya
hayas
haya |
hayamos
hayáis
hayan |
+ past participle |
|
hubiera
hubieras
hubiera |
hubiéramos
hubierais
hubieran |
+ past participle |