Capitulo Diez - Gramatica 1 - The Subjunctive Mood

Question 1

What is the subjunctive mood?

Answer 1

As a mood (as opposed to a tense), the subjunctive allows a speaker to

1. Express a variety of subjective nuances, such as hopes, wishes, desires, doubts, and opinions.
2. To express unknown or hypothetical situations.

Question 2

What is the difference between a “tense” and a “mood”?

Answer 2

A verb tense is a form of a verb that indicates when an action took place, is taking place, or will take place. The present indicative, the present progressive, the preterite, and the imperfect are all verb tenses (the preterite and imperfect are different aspects of the same past tense).

A verb mood refers to a verb form that expresses attitudes toward actions and events. For instance, the “indicative” mood is used to make statements which “indicate” objective, factual, or real information. The “imperative” mood is used to express a “demand.”

Question 3

Does the subjunctive have tenses?

Answer 3

Yes. Like the indicative, the subjunctive has tenses.

The present subjunctive, like the present indicative, expresses what happens regularly, what is happening now, and what is about to happen. The difference is that the present subjunctive views these present-tense events through a subjective, emotional, or contrary-to-fact filter.

Question 4

How do you form a present subjunctive construction?

Answer 4

Person 1 + indicative verb + que + Person 2 + subjunctive verb.

Adela quiere que David venga a la fiesta. 
Adela wants (that) David come to the party.

Question 5

How do you form a subjunctive verb?

Answer 5

Take the present indicative “yo” form of the verb, delete the “o”, and add the subjunctive endings. Using the “yo” form of the present indicative verb assures that any irregularities (such as stem changes) are automatically carried over into the present subjunctive forms.

Question 6

What are the stem endings to a present subjunctive -ar verb?

Answer 6

e
es
e

emos
éis
en

_____

hable
hables
hable

hablemos
habléis
hablen

Question 7

What are the stem endings to a present subjunctive -er and -ir verbs?

Answer 7

a
as
a

amos
áis
an

______

coma
comas
coma

comamos
comáis
coman

escriba
escribas
escriba

escribamos
escribáis
escriban

Question 8

Does the present indicative stem change behavior carry over into all forms of the present subjunctive?

Answer 8

No.

In -ir present indicative stem changing verbs, all forms of the present subjunctive are changed:

pedir -> (yo) pido -> (yo subj) pida

pida
pidas
pida
pidamos
pidáis
pidan

But, in present indicative -ar and -er stem changing verbs, the stem changes follow the same rules as the present indicative (ie: they do not stem change in the nosotros or vosotros forms)

poder -> puedo -> pueda

pueda
puedas
pueda
*podamos
*podáis
puedan

Question 9

What is unique about the present subjunctive stem changes of “dormir” and “morir”?

Answer 9

In addition to having a stem change in all forms, they reflect an additional o -> u stem change in the nos. and vos. forms:

dormir:
duerma
duermas
duerma

*durmamos
*durmáis
duerman

morir:
muera
mueras
muera

*muramos
*muráis
mueran

Question 10

What spelling changes need to be accounted for when conjugating to the present subjunctive?

Answer 10

c -> qu
g -> gu
z -> c

buscar: 
busque 
busques 
busque
busquemos
busquéis
busquen

llegar: 
llegue 
llegues
llegue
lleguemos
lleguéis
lleguen

comenzar: 
comience
comiences
comience
comencemos 
comencéis
comencen