SUBJUNCTIVITIS! The subjunctive mood & when to use it – & when not to!

This is pretty advanced stuff. If you were studying with official DELE courses, you wouldn’t be taught about it until level B1, which is the 3^rd level up, & then only the present subjunctive & in a simple way. The real nitty gritty doesn’t come in until level B2, the next level up, when you start to learn the imperfect subjunctive.
It isn’t a tense, it’s a mood, & is ‘available’ in more than one tense. The others are the ‘indicative’ which is the one we use the most, & certainly learn first, & the ‘imperative’ which is for giving instructions.

When I was first learning to use the subjunctive, I was told about WEIRDO, & also given a list of more than 60 ‘triggers’. I still find that list useful, though most of them can be bundled up as WEIRDOs. I pass the list onto my students now & I’ll add it at the end.

So, what the heck is a WEIRDO?
Take a look at this:

WEIRDOs – some are verbs & some are just one word – are the ‘triggers’ for using the subjunctive mood. Usually they are followed by QUE, & then the next verb will be in the subjunctive. Subsequent verbs in a sentence might be too but – might not be.

E.g.  Espero que no llueva mañana y podré ir a la playa.

On the basis that there’s always more than one way to explain things, this is how my mate Tamara, who has passed Spanish DELE C1 – there’s only C2 above that! – describes it:

Tamara’s KKK rule. Kiero / Kuando / Kizás. Or Quiero / Cuando / Quizás

QUIERO. Along with all the other ‘‘desire’’ words. Quiero que vengan. Deseo que hables español. Que tengas un buen día. (the ‘desire’ verb is absent but implied)

CUANDO en el futuro.
ONLY when ‘’cuando’’ is in the future. To be clear: Ayer, cuando fui a la panadería, compré pan. (simple past indicative). Normalmente, cuando voy a la panadería, compro pan. (simple present indicative).
MAÑANA cuando VAYA a la panadería (present subjunctive), compraré pan (future indicative)

QUIZÁS. Perhaps, possibly, maybe. ‘’Perhaps’’ always indicates doubt, & where there’s doubt, there’s the subjunctive! Quizás vayamos a la playa. Posiblemente vengan los abuelos. No es muy probable que llueva.

Then there’s a 4^th K as well, which is QUE. It isn’t an absolute rule, because obviously you don’t need the subjunctive every time you say ‘que’! But it’s a common trigger. E.g. Quiero que. Deseo que. Espero que. Me gusta que. No creo que (ONLY in the negative). When you know a verb takes ‘que’, pause a moment & think about DOUBT’ If there’s QUE + DOUBT, there’s a really good chance that it triggers the subjunctive.

So, just remember KKK! Quiero / cuando / quizás (& often que)

Tamara Essex also has a great blog ‘’A Foot in Two Campos’’ where she writes about her life here in Spain, & also gives language tips.

A FOOT IN TWO CAMPOS

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So, when DON’T we use the subjunctive? When there’s no doubt!

Take a look at this:

We don’t use the subjunctive when there’s TRUTH, when something is OBVIOUS, CERTAIN, EVIDENT or SURE. Then we use the indicative.

A present tense trigger can lead to present or imperfect subjunctive. Look carefully at what follows the trigger. If it’s present or future, then use the Present Subjunctive, if it’s in the past, then use the Imperfect subjunctive.
A trigger in anything but the present tense, leads to the Imperfect subjunctive.

And then there’s IF. IF there’s an IF followed by the present or future, then there’s no subjunctive.
However IF & past, and IF & present ‘impossible’ situation or contrary to current facts trigger the imperfect subjunctive. Si la Tierra fuera plana, ¿nos caeríamos del borde?
IF & past impossible/contrary to fact situation triggers the past perfect (pluperfect) subjunctive.  Si no nos hubiéramos mudado a España, no habríamos aprendido a hablar español.

The future subjunctive is hardly used outside legalese these days – so unless you’re writing contracts in Spanish, you don’t need it! Be aware of it, but ‘file it’ away in the back of your brain somewhere.

Here are those trigger phrases! There are more…