Weirdo: When to use the Subjunctive

While conjugating verbs into the Subjunctive form is not too difficult, it is deciding when and where to use the Subjunctive that gets a little complicated. We will look at it slowly and determine the rules for its use in stages.

The Subjunctive always is needed when we express a WEIRDO using the 3-part formula below. (the WEIRDO formula was devised by the awesome Dr. Karen Berg, and is featured in her materials which I cited in 1991, and again in 1995 in courses I published with UNC-Chapel Hill.)

(Click on a column heading on the left below for more detail)

W	Wishes, desires, Imperatives	Quiero que él.., Deseo que ella..., Necesito que usted..., Espero que tú...; Mando que..., insisto que... I Want or Need someone else to do something, I Order or Insist that someone to do something
E	Emotion	Me alegro de que..., me entristezco de que..., Me enoja que..., Temo que... I get (become) Happy... , Sad..., It makes me angry ..., I'm Scared... that something or someone does something
I	Impersonal observations	Es bueno que..., Es Importante que..., Es Posible que... It's good that.., It's important that.., It's possible that....
R	Recommendations	Recomiendo que..., Sugiero que... I Recommend or Suggest that someone else do something
D	Doubt, Denial, Disbelief	Dudo que.., No creo que.., ¿Crees que..?, niego que... I Doubt that, I Don't believe that..., Do you believe that...? I Deny that....
O	Ojalá	Ojalá que... Let's hope to God that.., God willing that..,
S	Speculation	Adverbial conjunctions to express Conditions & Times in which things may occur: tan pronto como.., cuando.., en caso de que.., en cuanto.., a menos que.., para que..., sin que.., con tal de que.., antes/después de que.., aunque..,

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)

The Weirdo: When to use the Subjunctive

Navigation Bar

The Practice Zone

While conjugating verbs into the Subjunctive form is not too difficult, it is deciding when and where to use the Subjunctive that gets a little complicated. We will look at it slowly and determine the rules for its use in stages.

The Subjunctive always is needed when we express a WEIRDO using the 3-part formula below. (the WEIRDO formula was devised by the awesome Dr. Karen Berg, and is featured in her materials which I cited in 1991, and again in 1995 in courses I published with UNC-Chapel Hill.)

W

Wishes, desires,
Imperatives

E

Emotion

I

Impersonal observations

R

Recommendations

D

Doubt, Denial, Disbelief

O

Ojalá

S

Speculation

There is a 3 part formula for using the Subjunctive. Each one of these three components MUST be in place.

1

2

3

The Weirdo: When to use the Subjunctive

Navigation Bar

The Practice Zone

While conjugating verbs into the Subjunctive form is not too difficult, it is deciding when and where to use the Subjunctive that gets a little complicated. We will look at it slowly and determine the rules for its use in stages.

The Subjunctive always is needed when we express a *WEIRDO using the 3-part formula below. (*the WEIRDO formula was devised by the awesome Dr. Karen Berg, and is featured in her materials which I cited in 1991, and again in 1995 in courses I published with UNC-Chapel Hill.)

S

Speculation

There is a 3 part formula for using the Subjunctive. Each one of these three components MUST be in place.

1

2

3

The Subjunctive always is needed when we express a WEIRDO using the 3-part formula below. (the WEIRDO formula was devised by the awesome Dr. Karen Berg, and is featured in her materials which I cited in 1991, and again in 1995 in courses I published with UNC-Chapel Hill.)