AR VERBS |
IR/ER VERBS |
|
Yo |
e | a |
Tú |
es | as |
Él, ella, usted |
e | a |
Nosotros |
emos | amos |
Ellos, ellas, ustedes |
en | an |
In the past we have removed the last two letters of an infinitive to get to the root or stem of the verb. Then we added the conjugation endings. But now we have a new way to form the root:
We conjugate in the Present Subjunctive by taking the first person singular "Yo " form of a verb (we'll use Hablar).
1) Hablar --->Hablo |
2) Drop the "o" |
3) --->Habl- |
4) Add the opposite ending: `e' (in other words, an ending we would expect to see on an Ir or Er verb) |
5) --->Hable |
If the "Yo" form is irregular, the subjunctive form will follow the irregular pattern of the Yo form:
1) Traer ----> Yo traigo |
2) Drop the "o" ---> Traig- |
3) Add the opposite ending `a' |
4) Traiga |
Caer (Caigo) | Decir (digo) | Hacer (Hago) | Oír (Oigo) | Poner (Pongo) | Salir (Salgo) | Venir (Vengo) |
In addition, if there is a stem change in the Present Tense, there will be a stem change in all of the conjugations in the Subjunctive form with the exception of the Nosotros form of -Ar and -Er verbs.
Only -Ir verbs continue to stem-change in all forms of the Present Subjunctive and they follow the same stem-changes as in the Preterite.
Infinitive (Verb) |
Present tense Yo |
Subjunctive Yo form |
Subjunctive Nosotros form |
Pedir | Pido | Pida | Pidamos |
Pensar | Pienso | Piense | Pensemos |
Dormir | Duermo | Duerma | Durmamos |
Atender | Atiendo | Atienda | Atendamos |
Hervir | Hiervo | Hierva | Hirvamos |
Entender | Entiendo | Entienda | Entendamos |
Poder | Puedo | Pueda | Podamos |
Freír | Frío | Fría | Fríamos |
There are six Spanish verbs with irregular present tense subjunctive forms. With Estar, Ser and Dar, drop both the "O" and the "Y":
Verbo |
Yo form |
Subjunctive |
Estar | Estoy | Esté |
Dar | Doy | Dé |
Ir (very irregular) | Voy | Vaya |
Saber | Sé | Sepa |
Haber | He | Haya |
Ser | Soy | Sea |
There is a 3 part formula for using the Subjunctive. Each one of these three components MUST be in place.
1 |
2 |
3 |
Subject #1 (indicative verb) (Select one of the WEIRDO categories) |
Que This is the conjunction necessary to introduce the subjunctive clause |
Subject #2 + verb in the subjunctive (the person or thing in our WEIRDO world) |