Summary of Subjunctive

Unless you’re an English major planning to teach, knowing the difference between types of clauses is more important in Spanish than it is in English. Let’s look at a summary of when to use the subjunctive in Spanish, & you’ll see why.

Noun clauses --indirect command  Recomiendo que vengas. --emotion  Tengo miedo de que vengas. --doubt/denial  Dudo que vengas. --es + adj.  Es bueno que vengas. Adjective clauses --if the object described may not exist  Busco un hombre que sea rico. --if the object described doesn’t exist  No hay nadie que sea tan rico como B.Gates. Adverb clauses --some conjunctions require subj  a menos que, para que, sin que, etc. --if the action hasn’t happened yet  Vamos a leer hasta que la clase comience. --if the main verb in an “if” clause is conditional  Juan leería si tuviera más tiempo.

Here’s why it’s important to know what type of clause you have: Es triste que seas pobre. Es triste cuando eres pobre. They mean pretty much the same thing. The first translates It’s sad that you’re poor. And the second translates It’s sad when you’re poor. Because the first sentence has a noun clause, the emotion in the main clause makes the subordinate verb subjunctive. But because the second sentence has an adverb clause, it doesn’t get the subjunctive. We’re talking about something habitual, so it’s indicative. In short, what makes the subjunctive necessary in an adverb clause is different from what makes the subj. necessary in a noun clause.

Other examples: Es bueno que salgas. Es bueno si sales. Es + adj requires the subjunctive. Es + si can’t have the subjunctive. Remember that the present subjunctive NEVER follows “si”; only the past subjunctive can, & only if you have conditional in the main clause.

You need to be careful what your rationale is on the test when you decide if you need the subjunctive or not, but more importantly, you need to be able to USE the subjunctive correctly.