Imperfect subjunctive: forms and uses

What it is

The imperfect subjunctive (pretérito imperfecto de subjuntivo) is the past form of the subjunctive. You meet it in three places: wishes that are unlikely or impossible (Ojalá tuviera más tiempo), polite requests (Quisiera un café), and any subjunctive clause that depends on a past or conditional verb (Quería que vinieras). It is everyday Spanish, not a literary relic: people use it in conversation all the time.

How to form it

Take the third-person plural of the preterite (pretérito indefinido), drop -ron and add the endings. Because the stem comes from the preterite, every preterite irregularity carries over: tuvieron → tuviera, dijeron → dijera, pidieron → pidiera. Three groups deserve attention: verbs with an irregular preterite stem (poder → pudieron → pudiera, hacer → hicieron → hiciera, traer → trajeron → trajera), -ir verbs that change their stem in the preterite (pedir → pidieron → pidiera, dormir → durmieron → durmiera), and verbs whose preterite has a y (leer → leyeron → leyera, construir → construyeron → construyera).

The endings are the same for all three conjugations. There are two sets, -ra and -se, and in the subjunctive they mean exactly the same thing.

The nosotros form always has a written accent on the syllable before the ending: habláramos, tuviéramos, fuéramos. Ser and ir share one form, so fuera can mean "were" or "went": context decides.

When to use it

• Unlikely or impossible wishes with ojalá or ¡Quién…!: Ojalá hiciera menos calor. ¡Quién pudiera vivir junto al mar! Compare Ojalá haga sol mañana (present subjunctive: it may happen) with Ojalá hiciera sol (it isn't sunny, and you wish it were).
• Courtesy: quisiera softens a request even more than me gustaría: Quisiera hablar con la gerente.
• Past contexts: when the main verb is in a past tense or the conditional, the subjunctive clause normally moves to the imperfect: Mis papás querían que estudiara medicina. Le pedí que no dijera nada. The full sequence of tenses comes in a later topic.
• Como si ("as if") always takes it: Habla como si fuera el jefe.
• It is also the si half of hypothetical conditions (Si tuviera dinero…), the next topic.

• Ojalá tuviera más tiempo para leer.I wish I had more time to read.an impossible wish about now
• Quisiera hacer una reserva para dos personas.I'd like to make a reservation for two.courtesy
• Mis papás querían que estudiara medicina.My parents wanted me to study medicine.past main verb
• Habla como si fuera el dueño de la empresa.He talks as if he owned the company.como si

Contrasts and traps

• Don't build on the infinitive. ✗ tenera, ✗ sabiera and ✗ decieran don't exist. Find the preterite first: supieron → supiera.
• -ra or -se? Both are correct. In Latin America -ra is far more common in speech; -se sounds more formal or written. Use -ra actively and recognise -se.
• Not the conditional. After ojalá, como si or que you need the subjunctive: never ✗ ojalá tendría.
• The accent in nosotros. ✗ fueramos without the accent is a spelling mistake.
• Ojalá + present or imperfect? The choice is about how likely you think it is, not about time: Ojalá venga (she may well come) vs Ojalá viniera (you doubt she will).

If you speak Portuguese

Portuguese tivesse, fosse, dissesse line up almost one to one with tuviera / tuviese, fuera, dijera. The Spanish -se ending has a single s (tuviese, not ✗ tuviesse), and Spanish speakers prefer -ra anyway.