In the Mood: The Subjunctive, Part 2

Learning not only when to use the subjunctive mood, but which form of the subjunctive to use, can be one of the most difficult parts of learning Spanish verb usage. The rules can appear quite complicated at first, partly because the subjunctive mood is nearly absent in English. But learning the tenses — either in the traditional way of memorizing rules and then applying them, or by becoming familiar enough with the language to know what sounds right — is essential to gaining fluency.

In an earlier lesson, we learned the principles that determine when to use the indicative and when to use the subjunctive. In this lesson, we will look at which tense to use, and the next lesson will look at the basic rules of forming the subjunctive. The goal here isn't to convey a complete understanding of the subjunctive tenses, but to supplement other study materials you have and to help you gain a basic understanding of how the verbs in a sentence work together.

The subjunctive has four tenses:

• present subjunctive
• present perfect subjunctive
• imperfect subjunctive
• past perfect (or pluperfect) subjunctive

Remember that, generally speaking, the subjunctive is used in dependent clauses. Which form of the subjunctive is used depends on two factors:

• the tense of the verb in the main clause
• the time relationship between the verb in the dependent clause and the subjunctive verb

Although there are some exceptions, the following chart shows the most common ways in which the tenses are differentiated:
 

Main verb is ...	Dependent (subjunctive) verb refers to action that ...	Tense to use in the dependent clause	Sample sentence (subjunctive in boldface)
in the present, future, present perfect, or imperative tense	takes place at the same time or after the main verb	present subjunctive	Espero que comas. (I expect you to eat.)
in the present, future, present perfect, or imperative tense	has been completed	present perfect subjunctive	Espero que hayas comido. (I expect you to have eaten.)
in the preterite, imperfect, past perfect, or conditional tense	takes place at the same time or after the action of the main verb	imperfect subjunctive	Esperé que comieras. (I expected you to eat.)
in the preterite, imperfect, past perfect, or conditional tense	has been completed	past perfect subjunctive (also called pluperfect subjunctive)	Esperé que hubieras comido. (I expected you to have eaten.)

Note that in many cases there are various ways of translating the sentence to English. For example, espero que comes also could be translated as "I expect that you will eat." Because there is no future subjunctive, verbs in the present subjunctive form often are translated into English using the future tense. Dudo que me compres recuerdos, I doubt you will buy souvenirs for me.

Here's another way to look at the sequence of verb tenses:

• If the main verb is in a present or future tense, use either the present subjunctive or present perfect subjunctive, depending on whether the subjunctive verb refers to action (or presumed action) that has been completed.
• If the main verb is in a past or conditional tense, use either the imperfect or past perfect subjunctive, depending on whether the subjunctive verb refers to action has has been completed at the time of the action in the main verb.

These tenses can seem quite confusing at first. But as you learn the language they will become second nature. Watch for an upcoming lesson on conjugating the subjunctive. That third and final lesson on the subjunctive will be followed by a self-scoring quiz.

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