The Present Subjunctive
A simple way to remember the endings of the present subjunctive is to remember that you just need to reverse the position of a and e compared to the present indicative. Compare the following endings:
Present Indicative | Present Subjunctive | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Generally speaking, we find the same irregularities in the present subjunctive as in the present indicative in the first person singular. Thus, we have forms with a diphthong in the same persons as in the present indicative: acertar => acierte, pedir => pida. We also find stem modifications with yo: nacer => nazca, tener => tenga
Moreover, the present subjunctive is rich in spelling modifications to maintain the same sound. For example: sacar => saque, vencer => venza, proteger => proteja, comenzar => comience
The Imperfect Subjunctive
The imperfect subjunctive is formed simply in Spanish. We take the verb in the third person plural of the preterite, remove the -ron ending and add the following endings:
- 1st form of the imperfect subjunctive: -ra, -ras, -ra, -ramos, -rais, -ran
- 2nd form of the imperfect subjunctive: -se, -ses, -se, -semos, -seis, -sen
All the exceptions of the preterite are thus naturally found in the imperfect subjunctive.
The Future Subjunctive
We have the same rule as before except that the endings are as follows:
- future subjunctive: -re, -res, -re, -remos, -reis, -ren