Spanish Imperfect Subjunctive - Imperfecto de subjuntivo

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Imperfecto de Subjuntivo - Spanish Imperfect Subjunctive

The imperfect tense of the subjunctive mood is used to express the same subjectivity as the present subjunctive, but in the past.

The imperfect subjunctive has three main uses:

1.	Express subjectivity in the past after the same verbs, impersonal expressions, and conjunctions as the present subjunctive. For the imperfect subjunctive to be needed, the verb in the main clause has to be in one of the following tenses/moods: preterite, imperfect, conditional, or pluperfect.
	Quería que lo hicieras.	I wanted you to do it.
	Fue una lástima que no pudiera venir.	It was too bad that he couldn't come.
	Yo iría al banco para que tuviéramos dinero.	I would go to the bank so that we'd have money.

2.	Make a very polite request or suggestion (only with the verbs deber, poder, and querer).
	Quisiera dos libros, por favor.	I'd like two books, please.
	¿Pudiera Ud. ayudarnos?	Could you (possibly) help us?

3.	In conditional sentences (si clauses) and with the conjunction como si.
	Si tuviera dinero, iría contigo.	If I had money, I would go with you.
	Me escucha como si fuera su profesor.	He listens to me as if I were his teacher.

Imperfect Subjunctive Conjugations

To conjugate the imperfect subjunctive, take the third person plural preterite form of any regular, irregular, or stem-changing verb, drop the -RON ending to find the radical, and add the appropriate ending:

-RA conjugation				-SE conjugation
yo	-ra	nosotros	-´ramos	yo	-se	nosotros	-´semos
tú	-ras	vosotros	-rais	tú	-ses	vosotros	-seis
él	-ra	ellos	-ran	él	-se	ellos	-sen

Notes:

The yo and él forms of the imperfect subjunctive are identical.
In the nosotros form of both conjugations, an acute accent ´ is added to the last vowel in the radical.
There are two complete sets of conjugations for the Spanish imperfect subjunctive. Although you only need to memorize and use one or the other, you still need to be able to recognize both. The -RA set of conjugations is more colloquial than the -SE set.

For example...

HABLAR -» ellos hablaron
yo	hablara	nosotros	habláramos
tú	hablaras	vosotros	hablarais
él	hablara	ellos	hablaran

yo	hablase	nosotros	hablásemos
tú	hablases	vosotros	hablaseis
él	hablase	ellos	hablasen

TENER -» ellos tuvieron
yo	tuviera	nosotros	tuviéramos
tú	tuvieras	vosotros	tuvierais
él	tuviera	ellos	tuvieran

yo	tuviese	nosotros	tuviésemos
tú	tuvieses	vosotros	tuvieseis
él	tuviese	ellos	tuviesen

Spanish Subjunctive Tenses:

Spanish Verbs Spanish for Beginners

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