Lesson 3: Conjugating the Subjunctive (Present Tense)

The Subjunctive Mood

We generally call it a mood or a manner of expression. In Spanish, there are 3 moods that encompass the entire language: The indicative, the imperative and the subjunctive. You’ve already learned the indicative mood, though you may not have realized what is was when you were learning it.  The present tense is in the indicative (I eat past / Yo como pasta). As is the future tense (I am going to eat pasta / Yo voy a comer pasta (or comerí pasta). The indicative is all those tenses you first learned when you learned Spanish: the present tense, the past tense, the future, the conditional etc.

The imperative is a much smaller lesson, which simply includes the conjugations you use when you are giving commands (see lesson #20) .

But now, we’re in the subjunctive.  It is similar to the indicative, in that there are several different tenses that can be used as part of the subjunctive mood, but it’s a whole new conjugation.

Look at the following chart below outlining the verb to be.
We are not going to go through all these and learn them.  We just want you to see the bigger picture – where you are at in your Spanish-language learning journey.

The subjunctive mood has all the same tenses as the indicative (present, past, future, conditional etc.

Insert chart conjugation images to understand