FHUHS Spanish

The Subjunctive Mode and Your “Bubble”

Most textbooks break the subjunctive into lots of boring categories:

• Noun Clauses
  • Volition
  • Emotion
  • Doubt
• Adverbial Clauses
  • conjunctions which always introduce the subjunctive
  • conjunctions which introduce the:
    • subjunctive when there is indication of future, incomplete action
    • indicative when there is indication of habitual or completed action
    • variable depending upon speaker’s intent
• Adjective clauses
  • negative antecedents, etc
• If clauses contrary to fact

Nobody really wants to memorize all that stuff, and native speakers of Spanish don’t think about it all when they’re speaking. They just speak, but they do have reasons for saying the things they say and the way they say them.

The subjunctive is about feelings

The Subjunctive is often feared and it’s definitely misunderstood–even by most Spanish teachers. So, all that stuff above? Forget it. The Subjunctive is largely about feelings. Let’s talk about feelings.

You know how you feel about the things around, right? You might not share your feelings, but you have them.

If you think about it, you probably also realize that as you move around the school and hang out with your friends, that you have a “bubble” around you that defines your comfort zone. Everyone has a “bubble” and most kids your age are very conscious of their bubble. It grows and shrinks depending upon a bunch of things.

For example, think about how you feel when you walk into a room or a party where you know everyone and all the people there are your friends–imagine the feeling you have in that situation. Think about the size of your “bubble” in that situation and I think you’ll recognize that it “grows” in these situations–your comfort zone is bigger.

Now think about how you feel when you walk into a room where you don’t know anyone. What happens to your bubble? Does it shrink? Most people feel like their bubble shrinks in around them.

So feelings are pretty important and the way we feel affects a lot of how we act. Let’s talk about the feelings you might have for members of the opposite sex as an example. (I’m going to write as if you’re a girl below. If you’re a guy, just substitute guys and girls.)

So think about how you felt before you had your first boyfriend.

“I want a boyfriend who will be nice to me.”

Where is the “wanting”? Is it inside your bubble? How about whether or not there is a boy out there who will be nice to you? Is that inside your bubble, or outside your bubble?

It makes most people uncomfortable to think about the fact that there may not be anyone out there for them, so that’s pretty clearly outside your comfort zone bubble, right?

So, you’re talking to your girlfriend about wanting a boyfriend. All of you have at least one of those “friends” who’s a little “snipey”, and yet she’s still your friend (maybe she’s more popular, or prettier, or something, whatever).

She says:

“I doubt there’s a boy out there who will like you. In fact, there is no boy out there who will like you.”

Now think like the snipey friend and about her bubble. Why is she saying this? Does she really know that or is she just trying to yank your chain?

You think:

“I still hope that there’s a boy out there for me. Oh if only I could meet one!”

Now, imagine that you’ve got your eye on a boy who you really like, but he’s kind of in a different clique. You think:

“I want him to like me.”

There’s going to be a party this weekend at the house of the “leader” of that “other” clique. You think:

“We’re going to go to that party so that I can meet him and we can talk.”

You get to the party and he’s talking to a bunch of his friends who you don’t hang out with much. And then he starts to talk to some other girl! You’re talking to one of your own friends, sharing your feelings. She says

“If I were you, I’d go over there and just start talking to him.”

Then she says:

“Come on! Go over there and talk to him!”

Think about your bubble again and look back at each of these sentences. Which part of each sentence falls inside your (or your friend’s) bubble and which part falls outside your bubble?

Let’s look at the Spanish versions of each of the sentences above:

I want a boyfriend who will be nice to me.
Quiero un novio que me trate bien.

You know you “want.” That’s inside your bubble. But, do you know that there’s a boy out there who will like you? Probably, but you really don’t know, so that part of the sentence falls outside your bubble. And, if you notice, the form of tratar is different that you would expect. It ends in an e and not an a. Let’s continue:

I doubt there’s a boy out there who will like you. In fact, there is no boy out there who will like you.
Dudo que haya un chico en el mundo que te guste. De hecho, no hay un chico que te guste en el mundo.

So, where’s your girlfriend’s doubt? She may really doubt, but does she really know if there is a boy out there for you? Isn’t that ouside her bubble? Note too that the form of hay in the first sentence is different as well as the form of gustar. Look at the second sentence as well. What part is inside her bubble and which part is outside? Is there something different about the verb in the second part that falls outside her bubble?

Now look at the rest of the sentences in their Spanish versions and figure out which parts are inside and which are outside. Are the verb forms different?

I still hope that there’s a boy out there for me. Oh if only I could meet one!
Todavía espero que haya un chico en el mundo para mí. ¡Ojalá que pueda conocerme a uno!

I want him to like me.
Quiero que me guste.

We’re going to go to that party so that I can meet him and we can talk.
Vamos a esa fiesta para que pueda conocerle y para que hablemos.

If I were you, I’d go over there and just start talking to him.
Si fuera tú, iría allí y empezaría hablarle.

Come on! Go over there and talk to him!
¡Vaya! ¡Ve allí y háblele.

All of the examples above contain cases of the subjunctive. All of the verb forms that are a bit different than you would expect–the parts of the sentences that fall outside your bubble–are examples of the subjunctive mood. They’re also pretty common things in the life of a teen.

Now think about the actions in that part of the sentences which fall outside your bubble. Has anything in those parts of the sentences got anything to do with time? No. they have nothing to do with time, but rather with feelings, with mood. Some of the things clearly fall inside your bubble–that place where you’re secure and confident. The other things fall outside your bubble where you’re not so secure or you don’t know what the results of your actions will be.

So, if you’ve basically understood any of this, you’ve essentially “got” the subjunctive.

Now you just need to know how to form it and a few of the common irregular forms.

The Pluperfect Subjunctive

(Pluscuamperfecto del subjuntivo)

The pluperfect subjunctive is nothing more than the perfect form (haber + past participle) of the imperfect subjunctive. Thus, you need to know the imperfect subjunctive form of haber and the correct past participle for the verb in question.

Ej.:

• ¡Ojalá que hubiera estado Miguel en la fiesta! (Oh if only Miguel had been at the party!)
• Si yo hubiera estudiado, no habría suspendido el examen. (If I had studied, I wouldn’t have failed the exam.)

Just like in the simple imperfect subjunctive, there are two forms: the -ra forms and the -se forms of haber in the imperfect subjunctive. In practice you really only need to include the -ra forms in your active vocabulary and usage, but be able to recognize the -se forms when you see them written or hear them used by a native speaker.

Imperfect subjunctive of haber (-ra forms)

For more information see:

• The simple imperfect subjunctive
• Past participles (including the many irregular forms)

The Future and Conditional Perfect Indicative (el futuro perfecto y el condicional perfecto) are compound tenses in Spanish and are formed by a future, or conditional, form of the verb haber, plus the past participle. Their use is very similar to the usage in English.

Future of Haber

Thus:

• Habré comido para las dos. (I will have eaten by 2 o’clock.)
• Habrán terminado cuando lleguemos. (They will have finished when we arrive.)

Conditional of Haber

Thus:

• Lo habrías hecho, ¿verdad? (You would have done it, right?)
• Te lo habríamos comprado, pero no pudimos. (We would have bought it for you, but we couldn’t.)

To review the formation of the simple future and conditional forms, ie., not the “perfect” compound forms, see the following:

• Formation of the Regular Future Indicative
• Formation of the Regular Conditional Indicative
• The Past, or Perfect Participles

The Future and Conditional Indicative tenses share the same stems in the formation of the irregular forms.

There are some patterns in the irregularity of the stems. The following are lists of common verbs which are irregular in the stem in both the future and conditional indicative, arranged by the nature of their irregularity:

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When you review the formation of the regular forms of the present subjunctive, the first step is to begin with the yo form of the present indicative of the verb in question, and then to drop the ‘o.’ Any verb whose yo form does not end in an ‘o’ is by definition going to be an irregular verb in the subjunctive.

Here are some common irregular verbs in the present subjunctive (presente del subjuntivo):

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Only three verbs are irregular in the imperfect indicative: ser, ir, and ver.

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Some common verbs are entirely irregular in the preterite indicative. The irregularities can be more of less classified by the nature of the irregularity. You will note that none of these irregular forms carry any written accents anywhere in the paradigm.

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Preterite Stem-Changing Verbs

A common mistake made by students of Spanish is to carry over the stem changes from the present indicative to the preterite indicative. The common o -> ue, e -> ie, and e -> i stem changes of the present indicative never carry over into the preterite forms. However, many -er and -ir verbs which have a stem change in the present indicative do have a type of stem change in the preterite, but it is generally a different change, and then, only in the 3rd person. For example:

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The Subjunctive Mode in Noun Clauses

The Subjunctive mode is used in noun clauses whenever the primary clause expresses doubt, emotion, or volition (will).

What is a noun clause?

A noun clause is a sentence fragment containing at least a subject and a verb which, when taken together, function as a noun, frequently as the direct object of the verb in the primary clause. In the following sentence:

I want a new car.

the direct object is “a new car.” It’s what “I want…”

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Formation of the Imperfect Subjunctive

There are two forms of the imperfect subjunctive: the -ra forms and the -se forms. There are more or less interchangeable so you really only need to learn to generate the -ra forms and recognize the -se forms. Native speakers seem to use both according to what sounds best to their ear in the sentence in question.

There are no irregular forms of the imperfect subjunctive—as long as you know the 3rd person plural of the preterite indicative of the verb you want to use, the formation is perfectly regular. Just follow these steps:

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