Introducción y los usos del subjuntivo

¿Qué es?

    The subjunctive is a MOOD, not a tense as it is often referred. 

    The MOOD reflects the attitude or desired effect the speaker wants their statement to have.

    There are THREE MOODS in Spanish: the indicative, imperative, and subjunctive:

Moods




  1. He washes the dishes.                             -> this is concrete and definite= indicative
  2. Wash the dishes!                                      -> this is a command= imperative
  3. I hope that he washes the dishes.       -> this expresses your desire, it is uncertain if it happened= subjunctive
  1. They went to the party.                              -> this action occurred, it is concrete= indicative
  2. Go to the party!                                           -> this is a command= imperative
  3. I doubt that they went to the party.       -> this expresses doubt, it is uncertain if it happened= subjunctive

Something to remember is that the subjunctive tense requires TWO CLAUSES in a sentence 
            You will have a main clause and a subordinate clause.
 
            The main clause will usually have a signaling phrase
that tells you the subordinate clause needs to be in the subjunctive mood.
                    (like: I hope that..., it is important that..., I doubt that..., he doesn't believe that..., she is happy that..., etc.)

Look at both of the #3 examples from above:  I hope that he washes the dishes and I doubt that they went to the party.   Our main clause (I hope that... and I doubt that...)



¿Cuándo se usa?


If the first part of the sentence, the main clause, indicates one of the below uses, then the second part of the sentence, the subordinate clause will be conjugated in the subjunctive. There are many different phrases or words that signal the subjunctive that can be of help to you when trying to learn this mood.
   
For now though, here is an acronym for when to use the subjunctive:

  •  W - Wish, Will
  •  E  -  Emotions
  •  I   -  Impersonal Expressions
  •  R -  Recommendations
  •  D -  Doubt, disbelief, denial
  •  O - Ojalá

Weirdo

Thinking of the drawing of my WEIRDO above may help you to remember the six uses of the subjunctive.   We will take a look at each of these uses individually in the future.


La analogía del helado

While I was researching the uses of the subjunctive, I came across an analogy that explains the subjunctive in terms of an ice cream cone.  This may help you to wrap your head around the concept of the subjunctive mood as it is a foreign topic to you.

Vanilla_Ice_Cream
Topping


Your indicative tense is vanilla ice cream.  It's plain and simple, straight forward.

Once you start adding your toppings to that ice cream like sprinkles, chocolate fudge, or cookie dough, the flavor then changes.  These toppings are your human emotions.

With all of these toppings (our emotions: doubt, denial, desires, hopes, wishes) our vanilla ice cream has now changed into something new.  This new flavor is the subjunctive.   Once the speaker starts to flavor their statement with their emotions or even hypothetical situations, it is no longer a plain and simple fact, it now is subjective, or open to interpretation, and therefore we use the subjunctive in those cases.




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