The Present Subjunctive--Formation

In this section, you'll find a repetition of what was stated in the Commands (the Imperative) section. Remember that you'll find a similar section about the past subjunctive in The Past Subjunctive--Formation, and a general discussion about how and when the subjunctive is used in The Subjunctive--Usage.

The Present Subjunctive

Subjunctive endings are really opposite endings. What do we mean by that? Well, you struggle for months to learn that -AR verbs use the endings with an 'a': -o, as, -a, -amos, áis, -an. And then that the -ER and -IR verbs do just the opposite: they all have an 'e' or an 'i' in the endings. Hold onto your hats now, and look at the subjunctive endings for -ar, and -er and -ir verbs:

Subjunctive Endings for -AR Verbs, with example

-e -emos
-es -éis
-e -en

hablar
hable hablemos
hables habléis
hable hablen

Subjunctive Endings for -ER and -IR Verbs, with examples

-a -amos
-as -áis
-a -an

comer
coma comamos
comas comáis
coma coman

vivir
viva vivamos
vivas viváis
viva vivan

Formation of the Present Subjunctive

You learned that in order to form the Present Tense of the verbs that you had to take off the -AR, -ER, or -IR and put on the endings, right?

Well, with the subjunctive what we have to do is start from the first person singular present and then take off the '-o' and finally add the subjunctive endings. The reason for this is that the verbs with irregular first persons (like hago, digo, conduzco, etc. keep the 'g' or 'zc' in the subjunctive. If that were not so, you could simply substitute that subjunctive endings for the regular endings.

So, above you already have examples of verbs which follow the regular pattern. Let's look at one verb which has a 'g' in the first person present, and another which has 'zc':

decir First person singular: digo

diga digamos
digas digáis
diga digan

conocer First person singular: conozco

conozca conozcamos
conozcas conozcáis
conozca conozcan

Irregulars

There are only three irregular verbs in the present subjunctive. That means that you don't start from the first person singular of the present tense to get the proper form. You need to learn them. They are:

IR
vaya vayamos
vayas vayaís
vaya vayan

SER
sea seamos
seas seáis
sea sean

HABER
haya hayamos
hayas hayaís
haya hayan

Related Topics

Commands (the Imperative)
The Past Subjunctive--Formation
The Subjunctive--Usage
Contents
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