The Subjunctive Mood!

Now, in the course of my Spanish teachings, I don't think there is any other grammar topic that is more mind-boggling for an English speaker to pick up than that of the subjunctive mood. Sure we use it in English, but it is not readily as visible since we don't have a Latin-based language where a verb's conjugation or tense can always be metamorphosed by changing the suffix. Instead, we rely on voice inflection, context, and other subtleties. An English-speaker says:

I want you to teach me Spanish.

There are two verbs in this sentence: "to want" and "to teach". Notice that in English, this sentence can be broken down into two clauses: an indicative clause, and a subjunctive clause.

Indicative Clause: I want you....
Subjunctive Clause: ....to teach me Spanish.

We say indicative because this is the part of the sentence where the speaker is relaying some information that is known or understood. The subjunctive part is completely DEPENDENT on the indicative part, so it can't exist on its own. If it wasn't for the speaker wanting anything, then there is no reason for the subjunctive clause to even exist.

In English, as the above sentence shows, the subjunctive is usually manifested with the infinitive form of the verb ("to teach").

Now, let's change this sentence into a Spanish one:

Yo quiero que tú me enseñes español.

Here, we have two verbs: querer(to want) and enseñar(to teach). The verb querer is conjugated in the present tense indicative, and the verb enseñar in the subjunctive. Notice the slight vowel tweaking of the subjunctive verb enseñar, which doesn't carry its "a" suffix anymore (because the indicative conjugation would be "tú enseñas", but rather an "e" suffix. This is known as an "opposite" vowel. For regular -ar verbs, you can simply change the "a" in the suffix and turn it into an "e", and for -er/-ir verbs you can change the "e" into an "a".

So, as you can see in Spanish, subjunctive sentences are formed by a change in the suffix, rather than context or voice, like in English.

If it is hard for you to absorb this material, join the club, I'm sure! I will keep updating this blog with more lessons on the subjunctive, so keep a lookout.

¡Sigue estudiando!

Professor Joel