The present subjunctive (el presente de subjuntivo) is used to express wishes, doubts, emotions, and other subjective or non-factual situations.
When to use it
Expressing wishes or desires
Quiero que vengas
I want you to come
Expressing doubt or uncertainty
Dudo que sea verdad
I doubt it's true
Impersonal expressions
Es importante que estudies
It's important that you study
After conjunctions of purpose or contingency
Te llamaré cuando llegue
I will call you when I arrive
Regular endings
| -ar | -er | -ir | |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | -e | -a | -a |
| tú | -es | -as | -as |
| él | -e | -a | -a |
| nos. | -emos | -amos | -amos |
| vos. | -éis | -áis | -áis |
| ellos | -en | -an | -an |
Irregular verbs
Completely Irregular
Irregular Stem: b → p
Irregular Stem: e → ie
Irregular Stem: e → ie & Spelling Change: z → c
Irregular Stem: e → ie / i
Irregular Stem: e → i
Irregular Stem: o → ue
Irregular Stem: o → ue / u
Irregular Stem: u → ue & Spelling Change: g → gu
Irregular Stem (from Present 'yo'): ‑g‑
Spelling Change: vowel → y
Irregular Stem (from Present 'yo'): ‑j‑
Irregular Stem (from Present 'yo'): ‑zc‑
Irregular Form
Spelling Change: c → qu
Spelling Change: g → gu
Spelling Change: z → c
Frequently asked
The present subjunctive (el presente de subjuntivo) is used to express wishes, doubts, emotions, and other subjective or non-factual situations. The main cases are expressing wishes or desires, expressing doubt or uncertainty, impersonal expressions and after conjunctions of purpose or contingency. For example: Quiero que vengas — I want you to come.
Regular verbs take: -ar: yo -e, tú -es, él -e, nos. -emos, vos. -éis, ellos -en; -er: yo -a, tú -as, él -a, nos. -amos, vos. -áis, ellos -an; -ir: yo -a, tú -as, él -a, nos. -amos, vos. -áis, ellos -an.
The most common ones are ser, estar, tener, hacer, poder, decir, haber and ir. Each has its own conjugation table with the full set of forms.
The presente de subjuntivo sits at B1 — Intermediate, and Verboteca practice is free at A1. The rule, the tables and the examples on this page stay readable without a subscription or an account.
Every verb form becomes a card that comes back right before you would forget it.
