Spanish Grammar/Subjunctive

All the verbs reviewed here up to this point have been conjugated in the indicative mood, the grammatical mood used for making factual statements, asking questions, or expressing opinions regarded as factual by the speaker.

The subjunctive mood is used in the context of unreality or the unknown/unknowable, such as wishes, emotions, possibilities, opinions, or actions that have not yet occurred.

The subjunctive kind of exists in English. Some examples:

You're looking for a new CTO. I would like to suggest that it be me.

If I were you, I would buy a boat.

So be it!.

I'll avenge you, father, so help me God!

Conjugated in the indicative mood, these phrases would be "…it is me," "I was you," "so it is," and "God helps me." Many English speakers don't notice they're already conjugating verbs in the subjunctive until they have to learn it in another language. To be fair, it is much simpler in English than it is in Spanish, and much less often used.

In Spanish, the subjunctive is often introduced by certain expressions. Learn to associate these expressions with the subjunctive:

Time Limiting Expressions		Conditions
antes (de) que	before	dado que	given that
hasta que	until	a no ser que	unlesss
cuando	when	en caso (de) que	in case, if
después (de) que	after	a menos que	unless
luego que	as soon as	sea que	whether
en cuanto		con/a condición de que	on condition that
tan pronto como		siempre y cuando que	provided that, as long as
mientras	while	con tal (de) que
		con tanto que
		sin que	without

Concessions		Results
aunque	although	a fin de que	in order (that), so that, so as
aun cuando	even if, even when	de manera que
a pesar de que	in spite of	de modo que
por… que	however	para que
		que