Subjuntivo - Spanish Subjunctive - Conjugations of Regular Verbs

The subjunctive is usually considered the most difficult Spanish verb form for students, but hopefully this lesson will simplify matters for you. In Part I, we will learn how to form the present subjunctive of regular verbs. In Part II, we will learn the present subjunctive of irregular verbs. In Parts III, IV, and V, we'll take an in-depth look at using the Spanish subjunctive.

Regular -AR verbs: Take the present tense of the verb and change the A (or O, in yo form) at the beginning of the suffix to E.

HABLAR		Present	Subjunctive
...que yo		hablo	hable
...que tú		hablas	hables
...que él/ella/Ud.		habla	hable
...que nosotros		hablamos	hablemos
...que vosotros		habláis	habléis
...que ellos/Uds.		hablan	hablen

-ER verbs: Take the present tense and change the E (or O) to A.

COMER		Present	Subjunctive
...que yo		como	coma
...que tú		comes	comas
...que él/ella/Ud.		come	coma
...que nosotros		comemos	comamos
...que vosotros		coméis	comáis
...que ellos/Uds.		comen	coman

-IR verbs: The conjugation rules for -IR verbs are a bit more complicated.

• yo form - change O to A
• tú, él, and ellos forms - change E to A
• nosotros form - change I to A
• vosotros form - change Í to ÁI

If this seems too complicated, try this: take off the present tense ending and add the subjunctive ending.

ABRIR		Present	Subjunctive	Subj. ending
...que yo		abro	abra	-a
...que tú		abres	abras	-as
...que él/ella/Ud.		abre	abra	-a
...que nosotros		abrimos	abramos	-amos
...que vosotros		abrís	abráis	-áis
...que ellos/Uds.		abren	abran	-an

Stem-changing verbs: Stem-changing -AR and -ER verbs follow the above rules; they use the same stem as in the present tense and thus maintain their stem changes in the subjunctive.

PENSAR		Present	Subjunctive
...que yo		pienso	piense
...que tú		piensas	pienses
...que él/ella/Ud.		piensa	piense
...que nosotros		pensamos	pensemos
...que vosotros		pensáis	penséis
...que ellos/Uds.		piensan	piensen
PODER		Present	Subjunctive
...que yo		puedo	pueda
...que tú		puedes	puedas
...que él/ella/Ud.		puede	pueda
...que nosotros		podemos	podamos
...que vosotros		podéis	podáis
...que ellos/Uds.		pueden	puedan

Notes:

• Stem-changing -IR verbs are irregular and are thus explained on the irregular conjugations page.
• In the subjunctive, the first and third person singular conjugations are identical.
• Spanish subjunctive conjugations are the same as imperative conjugations.

©   Laura K. Lawless
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