B1 · The subjunctive
Present subjunctive: the forms
The endings change sides; the stem comes from the yo form.
At a glance
- Remember
- Stem from the yo form, endings swapped — that is all there is to it.
- Form
- (yo) hablethat I speak
- Signal words
- que
- ojalá
- quiero que
- espero que
- es mejor que
- antes de que
- Trap
- Wrong:Espero que tenas suerte.Right:Espero que tengas suerte.
Your turn
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The form
How the forms are built
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in Spanish. The colours show what changes from one form to the next.
stem (regular) tense marker person ending
| that I speak | (yo) hable |
| that you speak (tú) | (tú) hables |
| that he, she speaks / you (usted) speak | (él, ella, usted) hable |
| that we speak | (nosotros) hablemos |
| that you speak (vosotros) | (vosotros) habléis |
| that they / you (ustedes) speak | (ellos, ellas, ustedes) hablen |
| that I eat | (yo) coma |
| that you eat (tú) | (tú) comas |
| that he, she eats / you (usted) eat | (él, ella, usted) coma |
| that we eat | (nosotros) comamos |
| that you eat (vosotros) | (vosotros) comáis |
| that they / you (ustedes) eat | (ellos, ellas, ustedes) coman |
| from the yo form | tengo → tenga, digo → diga, salgo → salga |
| -ir stem change | pedir → pida, pidamos; dormir → duerma, durmamos |
| own stems | sea, vaya, sepa, haya, esté, dé |
| spelling | buscar → busque, llegar → llegue, empezar → empiece |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
The stem comes from the first person of the present.
Espero que tengas suerte.I hope you are lucky.
The endings are the present endings swapped.
Quiero que hables con él.I want you to talk to him.
Six verbs have stems of their own.
Ojalá sea verdad.I hope that is true.
In -ir verbs with a stem change, nosotros and vosotros change too.
Es mejor que durmamos un poco.We had better get some sleep.
Example sentences
Espero que te guste el regalo.I hope you like the present.
No creo que llegue a tiempo.I do not think he will get there on time.
Es importante que lo sepas.It is important that you know.
Ojalá haga buen tiempo mañana.I hope the weather is good tomorrow.
6 more example sentences
Quiero que vengas a la fiesta.I want you to come to the party.
Es posible que llueva esta tarde.It may well rain this afternoon.
Dile que me llame.Tell him to call me.
No pienso que sea buena idea.I do not think that is a good idea.
Ojalá puedas venir.I hope you can come.
Me alegro de que estés aquí.I am glad you are here.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
The stem gets built from the infinitive, the way an English speaker builds every other form: tener goes to tena. It is tenga, because the starting point is tengo. That single rule replaces a whole list — the irregularities were learnt once, in the present, and are not learnt again here.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
The stem is taken from the first person singular of the present: hablo goes to habl-, como to com-, tengo to teng-, digo to dig-. Every irregularity already learnt in the present travels across on its own, so there is no second list of exceptions.
The endings swap sides. -ar verbs take the e-row (-e, -es, -e, -emos, -éis, -en), -er and -ir verbs the a-row (-a, -as, -a, -amos, -áis, -an). English has nothing to swap — the one bare form in «I suggest he go» is the whole of the English paradigm — so this is learnt from scratch rather than converted.
Six verbs build their own stem, because their yo form does not end in -o: ser to sea, ir to vaya, saber to sepa, haber to haya, estar to esté, dar to dé. They are the same six that misbehave everywhere else.
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The verbs on this page, in every form: ser · esperar · tener · hacer · llegar · hablar · saber · querer