Uses of Subjunctives in Spanish Language
The subjunctive mood is one of the six moods of Spanish verbs, along with the infinitive, gerund, participle, imperative, and indicative moods.
About the six Spanish verb moods
- the root form of the verb. This verb usually takes the place of subjects or objects in a sentence.
- This mood comes hand in hand with the Spanish auxiliary verb estar and, similar to English, is a form of be (-ing form).
- This is used along with the auxiliary verb haber (to have) and are frequently used as adjectives in a sentence.
- Used to give commands and suggestions.
- this mood shows action, process or identities that have materialized and taken place. It indicates perceived reality as a whole.
- Similar to the indicative mood, but the difference lies in the speaker’s perception of reality, sometimes contrary to it. It is used to express doubt, a person’s feeling on a possible action or state of being, as well as a wish, an intent or command to perform an act or assume a state of being. It can also be used to express a statement contrary to fact.
Because of its similarity with the indicative mood, the subjunctive mood is very tricky to master. Beginners usually encounter difficulties in distinguishing its uses from the indicatives. In order to clear up this cobweb, a few examples in English will be provided that will illustrate the use of the subjunctive mood and to compare with the indicative mood.
Comparing the Indicative and the Subjunctive Moods
Let us use this sentence in the indicative mood as an example.
Indicative: You are cold.
This sentence conveys the perceived or the actual reality that a person is cold.
Subjunctive Example No. 1
I don’t want you to become cold.
This example illustrates the speaker’s intent or wish that the person he/she is not talking to will not feel cold. It does not take into account that the person is already cold, as opposed to the sentence in the indicative mood.
Subjunctive Example No. 2
I’m sorry that you feel cold.
This example conveys the person’s emotions and feelings towards the fact that the person is cold.
Subjunctive Example No. 3
Tell her to wear a jacket so she won’t be feeling cold.
You can see her that the speaker is giving permission or expressing a wish for the person to put on a jacket to avoid the cold, which is contrary to the reality that the person is already feeling cold.
Subjunctive Example No. 4
Maybe she is cold.
In this example, you can see that the subjunctive mood can be used to express doubt on the perceived reality, that of the person already feeling cold.
Here are a few examples for distinguishing the indicative from the subjunctive.
Indicative: He is late.
Subjunctive: He’s likely to be late today.
Indicative: I think that lady is Marie.
Subjunctive: I don’t think that lady is Marie.
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