Spanish II: The Present Subjunctive

The first step to using the subjunctive present tense is learning to create the conjugated forms of a verb in the present subjunctive. Because it is a present tense, the present subjunctive is based on the forms of the present tense that you already know. If you know all the irregularities of the indicative present tense, you will find the present subjunctive an easy tense to conjugate.

Creating present subjunctive verb forms

There are three steps you can chant when creating a present subjunctive verb form:

form of yo
drop the - o
add the opposite endings

Of course, chanting the above does no good if you do not understand what it means in application. First of all, you must think of the yo form of the indicative present tense that you already know. For 99.9% of Spanish verbs, you simply drop the - o ending of the yo form and add a present tense subjunctive ending to what is left. (Only a few verbs in the Spanish language have a yo form that doesn't end in - o, and all these are irregular in the present subjunctive. You'll learn those later.) Because the yo form no longer ends in - o, the present subjunctive yo form looks exactly like the él/ella/Ud. form. Use the appropriate subject pronoun to specify the subject. The reason the “chant” says to add the opposite endings is because - er and - ir verbs use - ar verb endings, and you must use the normal - er endings with - ar verbs.

Present subjunctive of - ar verbs

Table 1 , below, will help you understand that the verb endings used for - ar verbs in the present tense subjunctive are like those used for the regular present tense of - er verbs.

TABLE 1

Present Subjunctive Endings for - ar Verbs

Subject	Ending	Subject	Ending
yo	-e	nosotros/nosotras	-emos
tú	-es	vosotros/vosotras	-éis
él	-e	ellos	-en
ella	-e	ellas	-en
usted	-e	ustedes	-en

Look over the present subjunctive conjugations of the regular - ar verb escuchar in Table 2 .

TABLE 2

Present Subjunctive Conjugation Chart for Escuchar (to Listen)

Subject	Verb	Subject	Verb
yo	escuche	nosotros/nosotras	escuchemos
tú	escuches	vosotros/vosotras	escuchéis
él	escuche	ellos	escuchen
ella	escuche	ellas	escuchen
usted	escuche	ustedes	escuchen

Verbs that end in -car, -gar, and -zar

Any verb that ends in - car, -gar, or -zar will use the endings and rules explained above for creating the present subjunctive, but to preserve the correct pronunciation of that letter, it will undergo a spelling change in the letter that precedes the subjunctive ending. You learned about a similar spelling change in the preterit tense that happens for the same reason, but in the preterit, this spelling change affects only the yo form. In the present subjunctive, the spelling change occurs in all forms.

To maintain the hard c sound (like a k), use qu rather than c in all forms of the present subjunctive for any verb whose infinitive form ends in - car.

Table 4 provides the subjunctive forms of common - car verbs. Because the él form is the same as the yo form, it is not listed.

TABLE 4

Common Verbs That End in - car and Their Subjunctive Forms

Infinitive	Subjunctive Endings
aparcar (to park)	aparque, aparques, aparquemos, aparquéis, aparquen
aplicar (to apply)	aplique, apliques, apliquemos, apliquéis, apliquen
buscar (to seek)	busque, busques, busquemos, busquéis, busquen
clarificar (to clarify)	clarifique, clarifiques, clarifiquemos, clarifiquéis, clarifiquen
clasificar (to classify)	clasifique, clasifiques, clasifiquemos, clasifiquéis, clasifiquen
colocar (to place, to put)	coloque, coloques, coloquemos, coloquéis, coloquen
comunicar (to communicate)	comunique, comuniques, comuniquemos, comuniquéis, comuniquen
dedicar (to dedicate)	dedique, dediques, dediquemos, dediquéis, dediquen
destacar (to stand out)	destaque, destaques, destaquemos, destaquéis, destaquen
educar (to educate)	eduque, eduques, eduquemos, eduquéis, eduquen
empacar (to pack)	empaque, empaques, empaquemos, empaquéis, empaquen
explicar (to explain)	explique, expliques, expliquemos, expliquéis, expliquen
fabricar (to make)	fabrique, fabriques, fabriquemos, fabriquéis, fabriquen
indicar (to indicate)	indique, indiques, indiquemos, indiquéis, indiquen
justificar (to justify)	justifique, justifiques, justifiquemos, justifiquéis, justifiquen
marcar (to mark)	marque, marques, marquemos, marquéis, marquen
masticar (to chew)	mastique, mastiques, mastiquemos, mastiquéis, mastiquen
pescar (to fish)	pesque, pesques, pesquemos, pesquéis, pesquen
publicar (to publish)	publique, publiques, publiquemos, publiquéis, publiquen
sacar (to take out)	saque, saques, saquemos, saquéis, saquen
significar (to mean)	signifique, signifiques, signifiquemos, signifiquéis, signifiquen
tocar (to touch)	toque, toques, toquemos, toquéis, toquen

To maintain the hard g sound (like the g in “go”), use gu rather than g in all forms of the present subjunctive for any verb whose infinitive form ends in - gar.

The verbs in Table 6 undergo the g to gu spelling change in all forms of the subjunctive. If the verb is a stem-changer, the change will be apparent in all forms but nosotros/nosotras and vosotros/vosotras. Because the él form is the same as the yo form, it is not listed.

TABLE 6

Common Verbs That End in - gar and Their Subjunctive Forms

Infinitive	Subjunctive Endings
agregar (to add)	agregue, agregues, agreguemos, agreguéis, agreguen
ahogar (to drown)	ahogue, ahogues, ahoguemos, ahoguéis, ahoguen
apagar (to extinguish, to turn off)	apague, apagues, apaguemos, apaguéis, apaguen
cargar (to load)	cargue, cargues, carguemos, carguéis, carguen
castigar (to punish)	castigue, castigues, castiguemos, castiguéis, castiguen
colgar (to hang)	cuelgue, cuelgues, colguemos, colguéis, cuelguen
encargar (to put in charge)	encargue, encargues, encarguemos, encarguéis, encarguen
entregar (to hand over)	entregue, entregues, entreguemos, entreguéis, entreguen
jugar (to play)	juegue, juegues, juguemos, juguéis, jueguen
llegar (to arrive)	llegue, llegues, lleguemos, lleguéis, lleguen
madrugar (to rise early)	madrugue, madrugues, madruguemos, madruguéis madruguen
negar (to deny)	niegue, niegues, neguemos, neguéis, nieguen
obligar (to obligate)	obligue, obligues, obliguemos, obliguéis, obliguen
pegar (to hit)	pegue, pegues, peguemos, peguéis, peguen
regar (to water a plant)	riegue, riegues, reguemos, reguéis, rieguen
rogar (to beg)	ruegue, ruegues, roguemos, roguéis, rueguen
segar (to mow the lawn)	siegue, siegues, seguemos, seguéis, sieguen
tragar (to swallow)	trague, tragues, traguemos, traguéis, traguen
vagar (to wander)	vague, vagues, vaguemos, vaguéis, vaguen

There is a consistent rule in Spanish that dictates that the letter z change to a c when followed by an e. This spelling change occurs in every subjunctive conjugated form of any verb that ends in - zar.

Look at the conjugation chart in Table 7 and use it as an example for the - zar verbs in Table 8 .

TABLE 7

Present Subjunctive Conjugation Chart for Abrazar (to Hug)

Subject	Verb	Subject	Verb
yo	abrace	nosotros/nosotras	abracemos
tú	abraces	vosotros/vosotras	abracéis
él	abrace	ellos	abracen
ella	abrace	ellas	abracen
usted	abrace	ustedes	abracen

TABLE 8

Common Verbs That End in - zar and Their Subjunctive Forms

Infinitive	Subjunctive Endings
abrazar (to hug)	abrace, abraces, abracemos, abracéis, abracen
autorizar (to authorize)	autorice, autorices, autoricemos, autoricéis, autoricen
alcanzar (to reach)	alcance, alcances, alcancemos, alcancéis, alcancen
almorzar (to eat lunch)	almuerce, almuerces, almorcemos, almorcéis, almuercen
amenazar (to threaten)	amenace, amenaces, amenacemos, amenacéis, amenacen
avanzar (to advance)	avance, avances, avancemos, avancéis, avancen
comenzar (to begin)	comience, comiences, comencemos, comencéis, comiencen
empezar (to begin)	empiece, empieces, empecemos, empecéis, empiecen
gozar (to enjoy)	goce, goces, gocemos, gocéis, gocen
lanzar (to throw)	lance, lances, lancemos, lancéis, lancen
organizar (to organize)	organice, organices, organicemos, organicéis, organicen
realizar (to fulfill)	realice, realices, realicemos, realicéis, realicen
rezar (to pray)	rece, reces, recemos, recéis, recen
simbolizar (to symbolize)	simbolice, simbolices, simbolicemos, simbolicéis, simbolicen
trazar (to trace)	trace, traces, tracemos, tracéis, tracen
tropezar (to stumble)	tropiece, tropieces, tropecemos, tropecéis, tropiecen

Table 8 provides the subjunctive forms of common - zar verbs. Because the él form is the same as the yo form, it is not listed.

Notice that - ar verbs do not undergo a stem change in the nosotros/nosotras or vosotros/vosotras forms but do undergo a stem change in all other forms.

Present subjunctive of - er and - ir verbs

The earlier chant still applies when you conjugate - er and - ir verbs in the subjunctive present tense:

form of yo
drop the - o
add the opposite endings

As you can see in Table 9 , the endings for - er and - ir verbs in the present subjunctive look like the - ar endings in the regular (indicative) present tense, except that the yo form is exactly like the él form.

TABLE 9

Present Subjunctive Conjugation Chart for - er and - ir Verbs

Subject	Ending	Subject	Ending
yo	-a	nosotros/nosotras	-amos
tú	-as	vosotros/vosotras	-áis
él	-a	ellos	-an
ella	-a	ellas	-an
usted	-a	ustedes	-an

The verb escribir is a regular - ir verb so, in the present subjunctive, it takes regular - ar endings (see Table 10 ).

TABLE 10

Present Subjunctive Conjugation Chart for Escribir (to Write)

Subject	Verb	Subject	Verb
yo	escriba	nosotros/nosotras	escribamos
tú	escribas	vosotros/vosotras	escribáis
él	escriba	ellos	escriban
ella	escriba	ellas	escriban
usted	escriba	ustedes	escriban

The Present Subjunctive

Creating present subjunctive verb forms

Present subjunctive of - ar verbs

Verbs that end in -car, -gar, and -zar

Present subjunctive of - er and - ir verbs

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The Present Subjunctive

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The Present Subjunctive

Creating present subjunctive verb forms

Present subjunctive of - ar verbs

Verbs that end in -car, -gar, and -zar

Present subjunctive of - er and - ir verbs

Cite this article

Tools & Resources

Ask Cliff

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