Present subjunctive: forms

What it is

Spanish has two sets of present-tense forms, one for each mood. The indicative (presente de indicativo: vienes, estás) presents something as a fact. The present subjunctive (presente de subjuntivo: vengas, estés) presents it as something wished for, asked for, doubted or reacted to. It usually comes after que, in a second clause:

• Vienes a mi fiesta.You’re coming to my party.indicative: a fact
• Quiero que vengas a mi fiesta.I want you to come to my party.subjunctive: a wish

English has almost no visible subjunctive ("I suggest he be on time"), so you’ll learn these forms as a new set. This topic is about the forms; the next one shows the first group of uses: wishes and requests with quiero que, espero que, te pido que and ojalá.

You already know part of this tense: the usted and ustedes commands from A2 (pase, siéntese, dígame, vengan) are present subjunctive forms.

How to form it

Regular verbs. Take the yo form of the present, drop the -o and add endings with the "opposite" vowel: -ar verbs take e, -er and -ir verbs take a.

The yo and él / ella / usted forms are the same, so add a subject when the context doesn’t make it clear: Mi mamá quiere que yo cocine (my mum wants me to cook).

An irregular yo form carries over. Because the rule starts from yo, a verb like tener (tengo) keeps its irregularity in every person:

Stem changes. -ar and -er verbs change exactly as in the present indicative: in every person except nosotros and vosotros. -ir verbs do the same, and also change e → i or o → u in nosotros and vosotros:

Sentir and preferir combine both changes: sienta, sientas… but sintamos; prefiera, prefieras… but prefiramos.

Spelling changes. Some verbs change a letter to keep the same sound. -car, -gar and -zar verbs change as in the preterite yo form (busqué, llegué, empecé); -ger, -gir and -guir verbs as in the present yo form (escojo, sigo):

Six irregular verbs. Only these don’t follow the yo rule:

The sixth, haber, matters here mainly as haya, the subjunctive of hay (there is / there are): Ojalá haya boletos. Watch the accents: esté, estés, estén are stressed at the end, like está, and dé has an accent to tell it apart from the preposition de.

When to use it

In this unit you’ll use the subjunctive after verbs of wishing and asking when the second verb has a different subject, and after ojalá (hopefully, I hope):

• Espero que estés bien.I hope you’re well.estar → esté
• Necesito que me hagas un favor.I need you to do me a favour.hago → haga
• Ojalá haya boletos para el sábado.I hope there are tickets for Saturday.hay → haya
• ¿Quieres que pidamos una pizza?Do you want us to order a pizza?pedir → pidamos
• Ojalá podamos ir a la playa.I hope we can go to the beach.puedo → podamos

With the same subject, use the infinitive instead: Quiero ir (I want to go), but Quiero que vayas (I want you to go).

Later units add more triggers: value judgements (es importante que), feelings (me alegra que), doubt (no creo que), future time clauses (cuando llegues), purpose (para que) and negative commands (no vengas). The forms are always the ones on this page.

Contrasts and traps

• Start from the yo form, not the infinitive: tengo → tenga, never tena; hago → haga, never haca; conozco → conozca.
• Nosotros: -ar and -er verbs go back to the infinitive vowel (podamos, pensemos, not puedamos); -ir verbs take i or u (pidamos, durmamos, not pedamos, dormamos).
• Accents that change the word: esté (verb) vs este (this); dé (give) vs de (of, from). Des, demos and den have no accent.
• Don’t mix up the vowels: llamas and comes are indicative; llames and comas are subjunctive: Quiero que me llames.
• haya, not halla: haya comes from haber; halla is a form of hallar (to find). In most of Latin America they sound the same.
• No vosotros in Latin America: ustedes covers plural "you": Quiero que ustedes vengan.

If you also speak Portuguese

Portuguese builds its presente do subjuntivo the same way, from the eu form. As a result, most forms are near twins: faça/haga, tenha/tenga, diga/diga, seja/sea, esteja/esté, vá/vaya, dê/dé, saiba/sepa, haja/haya. Watch the accents (esté, and dé with an acute accent), keep the Spanish diphthongs (duerma, pueda, piense), and use haya, not tenga, for "there is".