Present Subjunctive Spanish: A complete beginner-friendly guide (2024)

Present subjunctive Spanishis likely to be your first exploration into the subjunctive mood, which is used all the time in Spanish. In this post, we’re going to cover everything that you need to know to master using this common but misunderstood tense.

We’ll start with the basics, introducing the subjunctive moodand its tenses. Then we’ll focus on sentence structure, since the subjunctive is always used in dependent clauses. We’ll spend a fair amount of time explaining when to use the present subjunctivein Spanish, breaking it down into simple scenarios with examples. Then comes our section on Spanish present subjunctive conjugation, with full charts for both regular and irregular verbs.

Once our lesson is complete, we’ll finish up with some practice exercisesto let you see how well you’ve grasped the present subjunctive tense in Spanish. It may seem like a lot to digest, but if you follow through to the end you’ll likely be pleasantly surprised at how much you’ve learned from today’s beginner-friendly guide to present subjunctive Spanish!

In this video, Mafalda gives a quick overview of the main points that we cover in today’s blog post. For the complete lesson with all the elements you need to master the present subjunctive tense, read on!

What is the Present Subjunctive in Spanish?

Before we go any further on this specific tense, let’s take a step back to make sure that you fully understand what the subjunctive moodis.

The subjunctive mood

The subjunctive is one of the three moodsthat we use in Spanish, along with the indicative moodand the imperative mood.

In contrast to the indicative moodthat’s used for making factual statements, or the imperative moodwhich is used for giving commands, the subjunctive moodis used when the speaker wants to express a lack of certaintyin a statement. In other words, it’s what we use when speaking about a thought, a belief, an expectation, or an assumption, whenever we need to acknowledge that there’s a bit of doubt about whether the statement is actually true.

The subjunctive tenses

The present subjunctive is the most common of six tensesin the Spanish subjunctive mood. Four of them are fairly common: the present subjunctive, the present perfect subjunctive, the imperfect subjunctive, and the past perfect subjunctive. The other two subjunctive tenses are no longer really used in contemporary Spanish: the future subjunctiveand the future perfect subjunctive.

We have a related post where we give a broader overview of these six subjunctive tenses, while we have another comprehensive post that introduces all the verb tenses in Spanish.

The important thing to remember here is that the subjunctive moodis used to indicate some level of uncertainty, while the tenseis related to whenthe action is occurring.

The present subjunctive tense

Despite the name of the presentsubjunctive in Spanish, this particular tense can be used to speak about actions that aren’t necessarily occurring at the present. Let’s see a couple of examples, both of which use the present subjunctive tense in Spanish:

• Espero que estésbien. – I hope you arefine. (occurring in the present)

• Felicitaremos al corredor que llegueprimero. – We will congratulate the runner who arrivesfirst. (occurring in the future)

Whether we’re referring to how you may bedoing right now or to which runner may arrivefirst, we’re using the subjunctive because there’s some uncertainty in both of these statements. Maybe you’re not doing fine right now, though I hope you are. And the race is still underway, so we still can’t tell which runner we’ll congratulate. The first parts of the sentences set the scene for a bit of uncertainty, so the second parts require the present subjunctive!

We’ll spend the rest of this post learning to master present subjunctive Spanish, but first we need to take a slight detour to examine these two parts of sentences, known as clauses.

Subjunctive clauses

The subjunctive mood is always found in dependent clauses. As you might expect, these are always subordinateto independent clauses. Let’s take a few minutes to see how these clauseswork. Let’s start with some definitions:

1. A clause is a group of words with a subject and conjugated verb. The subject tells us whom or what the sentence is about, and the verb tells us what the subject does.

2. An independent clausecan stand on its own as a full sentence. It can make sense without any additional information. Here’s a simple example:

• [Sofia saw a dog.]

3. A dependent clausehas a subject and a conjugated verb, but it doesn’t make sense on its own without a preceding clause to introduce it. These are also known as subordinate clauses. Building on the example from above, here’s a dependent clause:

• [She wants to adopt.]

The independent clause makes sense on its own, while the subordinate clause relies on being introduced by another clause to make sense. But taken together, we clearly understand the information in both clauses.

• [Sofia saw a dog] [she wants to adopt.]

4. A relative pronoun(usually que) normally connects the independent and dependent clauses in Spanish. Relative pronouns include that, which, and who, though these can frequently be omitted in English.

• [Sofia saw a dog] that[she wants to adopt.]

Ok, so what do independent clauses, subordinate clauses, and the relative pronoun quehave to do with the subjunctive? Once you’re familiar with these two parts of a sentence, it will be easy to identify where to use the subjunctive! Here’s the secret:

Initial clauses that express some uncertainty are followed by dependent clauses in the subjunctive.

An independent clause cannot be in the subjunctive, so it will always be either in the indicative or the imperative. Then, if there’s some doubt involved in the first clause’s statement, the dependent clause is in the subjunctive. Let’s see this with an example:

• Espero que lleguesa tiempo. – I hope that you arriveon time.

In this example I’m expressing a hope for the action to happen, but since it’s just a hope it’s uncertain that you actually will arrive on time. The independent clause is “[yo] espero,” meaning “I hope.” The dependent clause is “[tú] lleguesa tiempo,” meaning “you arriveon time.” They’re connected by “que,” meaning “that,” which is a relative pronoun referring back to my hope.

Ok, at this point you should have a clear understanding about the importance of clauses to today’s lesson, since the subjunctive will always be triggered by an introductory clause. The other vital clue you should catch here is that the relative pronoun queis often a surefire sign that the following clause will take the subjunctive.

We’ll end our detour here and move on to more details about present subjunctive Spanish. If you want a comprehensive list of intro clauses that lead to the subjunctive in their dependent clauses, check out our advanced post on subjunctive trigger words and phrases.

When to use Present Subjunctive Spanish

So far in today’s lesson we’ve been very general in explaining when to use the subjunctive mood, since there are several different tenses that all follow the same rules about uncertainty and clauses that we discussed above. The rules we explain below can also be applied to the other subjunctive tenses, but we’re demonstrating them strictly with present subjunctive examples.

So which tensesin the initial clause require us to use the present subjunctive tenseover any of the other subjunctive tenses? Whenever the initial clause is inthe simple present tense, the simple future tense, or the affirmative imperative tense, the dependent clause will take the present subjunctive tense.

Now let’s see some of the most common scenarios where the independent clause will trigger the present subjunctive tense in Spanish. We’ll introduce them in order from most common to least common, so you’ll be using the subjunctive properly most of the time even if you only master the first few scenarios.

To help make things clear in our examples, we’ll put the key trigger phrase in italics, and the present subjunctive conjugation in bold.

Expressing wishes or hope

This is probably the most common scenario where we use the present subjunctive in Spanish, since we’re constantly making statements about what we’re hoping for. Since the outcome is uncertain, we follow our statement of wish or hope with a clause in the subjunctive.

• Deseo quevengana mi fiesta. – I would like foryou to cometo my party.
• Deseamos quevengasa nuestra boda. – We would like foryou to cometo our wedding.
• Deseo quetengasun buen día. – I wish foryou to havea good day.
• Espero quete disfrutesla torta. – I hope thatyou enjoythe cake.
• Exigimos quenos paguenya. – We demand thatyou payus now.
• Prefiero queviajessolo. – I prefer thatyou travelalone.
• Pido queseanmás amables. – I request thatyou bemore kind.
• Quiero queestudiesespañol. – I wantyou to studySpanish.
• ¿Necesitas quete ayude? – Do you needme to helpyou?
• Espero queestés feliz. – I hope thatyou’rehappy.
• Ojalá [que]no lluevahoy. – Hopefullyit won’t raintoday.

That last example uses a very common introductory word to express hope, ojalá. It’s not an independent phrase on its own, but it always triggers the subjunctive. Including queafter ojaláis optional. Translations of ojalácan range between I hope, let’s hope, I wish, or if only. Check out our dedicated post on ojalá in Spanishfor a full explanation of its use and meanings.

Expressing doubts

If the first clause clearly states a doubt, like I doubt thator I’m not sure that, then the dependent clause takes the present subjunctive in Spanish.

• Dudo quevengana mi fiesta. – I doubt thatyou’ll cometo my party.
• No estoy seguro de queseala mejor idea. – I’m not sure thatit’sthe best idea.
• No parece queestésmuy contento. – It doesn’t seem thatyou’revery happy.

Likewise, the subjunctive is triggered when we begin a statement with single words that express doubt, such as perhapsand maybe. These aren’t independent clauses like we’ve seen so far, but they’re still among the many subjunctive trigger words in Spanish.

• Tal vezme gusteesa película. – PerhapsI’ll likethat movie.
• Quizásvivamosun tiempo en Barcelona. – Maybewe’ll livein Barcelona for a while.

This rule about needing to use the subjunctive when expressing doubts can get confusing when giving opinions, since affirmative opinionsare often expressed with certaintyby using the indicative. These same introductory statements in the negative, however, express uncertainty, so their corresponding subordinate clauses will take the subjunctive. Let’s see this in a series of paired examples where we put the subjunctive trigger phrases in italics:

• Creo que ella viene. – I believe that she is coming. (indicative)
• No creo queella venga. – I don’t believe that she’s coming. (subjunctive)

• Estoy seguro de que él vendrá. – I’m sure that he will come. (indicative)
• No estoy seguro de queél venga. – I’m not sure he will come. (subjunctive)

• Pienso que él estáaquí. – I think that he’shere. (indicative)
• No pienso queél estéaquí. – I don’t think that he’shere. (subjunctive)

• Opino que ella tiene razón. – I think that she is right. (indicative)
• No opino queella tenga razón. – I don’t think that she is right. (subjunctive)

To sum up this last part of the rules about certainty vs uncertainty in opinions, here’s a quick reference list of typical phrases that will trigger the indicative in the affirmativeand the subjunctive in the negative:

Expressing emotions and feelings

When the speaker states how they feel about an existing situation, the situation they’re referring to is stated in the present subjunctive. Such trigger phrases can include I’m happy that, I’m sad that, or I’m surprised that.

Compared with the other scenarios we’ve seen so far, what’s the link with uncertaintyhere? It’s that the speaker isn’t taking the situation for granted, admitting that it could be otherwise and they might feel differently if that were the case.

Let’s see how this works with an example, where we start with a situation that’s currently a fact: “Tienestantos amigos.” – “You haveso many friends.” On its own, this is an independent clause that uses the present indicativetense. I love this situation, so I’ll use the present subjunctivewhen I express my feelings about it:

• Me encanta quetengastantos amigos. – I love thatyou haveso many friends.

Maybe I’d feel differently if you didn’t have so many friends, so I use the subjunctive when introducing it as such. We do the same with other expressions of feelings or emotions:

• Me sorprende queestéstemprano en casa. – I’m surprised thatyou arehome early.
• Lamento quetengas quetrabajar. – I’m sorry thatyou have towork.
• Me alegra quecantesen Español. – It makes me happy thatyou singin Spanish.
• Me hace feliz queestésaquí. – It makes me happy thatyou’rehere.
• Me entristece queno tengastiempo para mí. – It makes me sad thatyou don’t havetime for me.

Explaining purpose

Here we’re moving away from the sentence structure where the initial clause determines the need for the subjunctive in the subordinate clause. Instead, it’s how we link the two that triggers the subjunctive.

In these cases, the subjunctive is triggered by specific linking phrasesthat allow us to explain a purpose. We can often translate them all as so that, as you’ll see in our examples below, but there are also some alternative translations for most of them:

Now let’s see these in action, with italics for the linking phrasesand bolding for the purpose that’s in the present subjunctive.

• Él trabaja para quesus hijos estudien. – He works so thathis children may study.
• El dinero es para quecomprenel almuerzo. – The money is so thatyou may buylunch.
• Él estudia mucho a fin de quepuedaaprobar el examen. – He studies a lot so thathe may passthe exam.
• Preparo todo con la intención de queellos se sientancómodos. – I prepare everything so thatthey may feelcomfortable.
• Les doy instrucciones claras con el objetivo de queno cometanerrores. – I give them clear instructions so thatthey don’t makemistakes.

Telling someone to make someone else do something

We’re getting into a fairly uncommon sentence structure here, but we’ll include it here for completeness. Usually when we give orders with the imperative mood, we’re telling the listener what to do. But what if we tell them to get someone else to do something?

In this sentence structure we start with the imperative tensefollowed by que. Then we use the present subjunctiveto state the action we want the listener to oblige someone else to do. Let’s see some examples:

• Pide queellos ayudenen el evento. – Ask thatthey helpat the event.
• Dile queno toquemis cosas. – Tellhim not to touchmy things.
• Permite quetus hijos jueguenun rato. – Allowyour kids to playfor a while.
• Prohíbe quelos niños crucensolos la calle. – Prohibitthe children from crossingthe street alone.
• Manda queel perro no entrea la cocina. – Command thatthe dog doesn’t enterthe kitchen.
• Enseñaa los estudiantes querespetena los demás. – Teachthe students to respectothers.
• Garantiza quelos invitados se sientancómodos. – Ensure thatthe guests feelcomfortable.

Negative commands

The last situation where we use the present subjunctive tense in Spanish is when we give orders in the negative. (This is in contrast to what we saw in the previous section, where we started all of the example sentences with affirmative commands in the imperative tense.)

The use of the present subjunctive tense we’re looking at in this section actually falls within the imperative mood, since it’s a way to give orders, but it’s expressed using present subjunctive tense conjugations.

• No fume. – Do not smoke.
• No vengasmuy tarde. – Do not cometoo late.
• No hablestan rápido. – Don’t speakso fast.
• No salgassin tu abrigo. – Don’t go outwithout your coat.
• No comastanto azúcar. – Don’t eatso much sugar.
• No me digasmentiras. – Don’t tellme lies.
• No escribasen el libro de la biblioteca. – Don’t writein the library book.

Present Subjunctive Spanish Conjugation

Now that you know when to use the present subjunctive tense in Spanish, it’s time to learn its conjugations. We’ll start with the straightforward rules for regular verbs, then we’ll see conjugation tables for the most important subjunctive irregular verbs.

Present subjunctive conjugation: Regular verbs

If you know how to conjugate regular verbs in the simple present tense of the indicative mood, you can get the present subjunctive endings by just switching one letter. In fact, to demonstrate how easy it is, we’ll compare the simple present tense in the indicative mood vs the subjunctive mood side by side, so that you can see how similar they are.

For regular -ar verbs, the vowels from the present indicative endings change to -e-in the present subjunctive endings. Let’s see this with the regular verb comprar, meaning to buy. Note that the vosotrosform keeps an accent on its -é-in the present subjunctive, just as the present indicative had an accent on its -á-.

For regular -er verbs, we change the vowel to -a-in the present subjunctive endings. We’ll show this with comer, which is a regular verb meaning to eat. The same rule applies to keeping the accent on the vosotros form.

We make the same change to regular -ir verbs, so they have the same present subjunctive endings with -a-. Let’s use viviras our example verb here, meaning to live. Don’t forget to keep the accent in the vosotros form.

To sum up, here’s our conjugation chart for all the present subjunctive tense endingsfor regular verbs in Spanish.

Before we look at our irregular conjugations, let’s wrap up this section with a few more examples using regular verbs in the present subjunctive tense.

• Ella espera que hableen la conferencia. – She expects that I’ll speak at the conference.
• Mamá quiere que comastoda la cena. – Mom wants you to eatthe whole dinner.
• Dudo que ella vivamucho tiempo en esta ciudad. – I doubt that she’ll livefor a long time in this city.
• No es posible que creamosen sus palabras. – It’s not possible that we believehis words.
• Espero que no bebanmucho esta noche. – I hope that they don’t drinktoo much tonight.
• Queremos que comprenmucha comida. – We want you to buya lot of food.

Present subjunctive conjugation: Irregular verbs

With the regular verbs we’ve seen so far, the present subjunctive stem is easily derived by removing the final -er, -ar, or -ir from the infinitives. Many verbs, however, have irregular stemsin the present subjunctive tense that need to be memorized.

The good news is that, even for verbs with irregular present subjunctive stems, we can still apply the same regular endings to them. We’ll take a look at some of these before discussing exceptions. We’ll start with ser, which means to be, tener, which means to haveor to hold, and hacer, which means to door to make. Click through for full conjugation tables of each one.

Did you notice that all of the endings here are exactly the same as we saw for regular verbs? Only the stem is irregular. Now let’s do the same thing with decir, venir, and salir, which mean, respectively, to say, to come, and to go out.

To wrap up this set of verbs with irregular present subjunctive stems, let’s see two last verbs that are used constantly in Spanish. Haberis our standard auxiliary verb for all the compound tenses, like havein English. Iris our verb for to go, while it’s also used to talk about the near future like going toin English.

Things get a bit more complicated with some irregular verbs, where the stems can differ between the grammatical personsjust like they can in the present indicative. Sometimes this involves a slight spelling change, and sometimes it involves certain forms taking accents and others remaining unaccented. The good news is that these differences usually mirror the same differences seen in the present indicative tense, so these irregular forms begin to make more sense in the bigger picture of a given verb’s conjugations.

We can’t go into all the variants in today’s lesson, but it’s important you’re aware that there are other possibilities with irregular stemsas you advance in your mastery of the present subjunctive tense.

Irregular endingsare rare, but there’s one verb that’s so important we’ll end our section on present subjunctive conjugation with it: estar. Notice that although the stem, est-, is regular, and the endings resemble those of regular -ar verbs we saw earlier, the accented évs unaccented ein the endings are irregular. Check out our related posts for full estar conjugation charts, and for how to use estar.

Conclusion: Present subjunctive Spanish

Now that we’re at the end of our lesson, how do you feel about the present subjunctive tense? We know the subjunctive has a reputation among learners for being difficult, but we’ve seen today that it can be masterered by applying a fairly straightforward set of rules. Let’s do a quick recap before we go, and then we’ll end with a few practice exercises to see how you do.

We started off with a broad overview of the three verbal moodsin Spanish, emphasizing that the six tenses of the subjunctive mood are always used to imply that there’s some level of doubt or uncertaintyto a statement.

We then took a slight detour to discuss sentence structure, since the subjunctive mood can only ever be used in dependent clauses. The first part of a sentence always introduces the source of uncertainty, which is then followed by the dependent clause in the subjunctive.

We looked at a number of contexts into which we can group these introductions, starting with the most common ones of expressing wishesor expressing doubts. These are the most common phrases that trigger the subjunctive in Spanish.

We nonetheless covered the less common contexts as well, from explaining the purposefor something with para que, to using the imperative mood to tell someone to compel someone elseto do something. Finally, we saw that when we give negative commands, we use the present subjunctive conjugationseven though the command form technically falls within the imperative mood.

We ended our post with a lesson on present subjunctive conjugation, showing how the regular endingsare actually quite straightforward. While we mentioned some of the possibile variants for irregular conjugations, we limited our treatment of them to a set of common verbs that just have the same irregular stemin all their forms.

Overall, today’s post has provided a comprehensive overview of the present subjunctive tense in Spanish. If you consider yourself a beginner and you’ve grasped everything we’ve outlined here, you’re well on your way to an intermediate level of Spanish! Beyond studying the basics like this, of course the best way to improve is to actually use everything you’re learning. So go ahead and apply what you’ve seen here whenever you speak and write in Spanish, and you’ll soon have an excellent grasp of present subjunctive Spanish!

Present subjunctive Spanish practice

All of the sentences here require the present subjunctive tense in their dependent clauses. Based on the context of the sentence, and using the English translation as a guide, insert the correct present subjunctive conjugation of the verb in parentheses. The answers are below.

1. Estoy buscando un apartamento que _____ una terraza. (tener) – I’m looking for an apartment that hasa terrace.

2. Ella quiere una secretaria que _____ español. (hablar) – She wants a secretary who speaksSpanish.

3. Necesito que _____ a tiempo a la reunión. (llegar) – I need you to get tothe meeting on time.

4. Queremos que los niños _____ clases de guitarra. (tomar) – We want children to take guitar lessons.

5. Esperamos que _____ su estadía en el hotel. (disfrutar) – We hope you enjoyyour stay at the hotel.

6. Ojalá mañana _____ ir a la playa. (poder) – Hopefully tomorrow we cango to the beach.

7. Voy a solicitar una beca cuando _____ a la universidad. (ir) – I’m going to apply for a scholarship when I goto college.

8. Es increíble que todavía _____ sus mentiras. (creer) – It’s amazing that you still believehis lies

ANSWERS

1. Estoy buscando un apartamento que tengauna terraza.

2. Ella quiere una secretaria que hableespañol.

3. Necesito que lleguesa tiempo a la reunión.

4. Queremos que los niños tomenclases de guitarra.

5. Esperamos que disfrutensu estadía en el hotel.

6. Ojalá mañana podamosir a la playa.

7. Voy a solicitar una beca cuando vayaa la universidad.

8. Es increíble que todavía creassus mentiras.