1. The imperfect subjunctive (or the past subjunctive, el imperfecto de subjuntivo):

2. A.Forms of the imperfect subjunctive. Take the third person plural form of the preterit (e.g., hablaron), then drop the -on from the end, which gives you the stem (hablar-) for the imperfect subjunctive. The endings are the same for all verbs: -a, -as, - a, -amos, -ais, -an. hablar hablara habláramos hablarashablarais hablarahablaran comer comiera comiéramos comierascomierais comieracomieran

3. vivir viviera viviéramos vivierasvivierais vivieravivieran A.ALL verbs form the imperfect subjunctive this way, even the most irregular (but you must know and start with the third person plural of the preterit): Infin. Meaning Preterit Imperfect subjunctive decirto saydijerondijera, dijeras, dijera, dijéramos, dijerais, dijeran estarto beestuvieronestuviera, estuvieras, estuviera, estuviéramos, etc. hacerto make, do hicieronhiciera, hicieras, hiciera, hiciéramos, hicierais, etc. irto gofueronfuera, fueras, fuera, fuéramos, fuerais, fueran serto befueronfuera, fueras, fuera, fuéramos, fuerais, fueran tenerto havetuvierontuviera, tuvieras, tuviera, tuviéramos, tuvierais, etc.

4. Uses of the imperfect subjunctive. The imperfect subjunctive is used in the same type of situations in which the present subjunctive is used, except that the governing verb is typically in a past tense (e.g., the preterit, imperfect, past perfect, conditional, conditional perfect, or one of the past subjunctives): 1.Noun clauses. Remember that the subjunctive is used after verbs of influence, emotion, doubt, and denial. Contrast the use of the present tense governing verb plus present subjunctive situation and that of a past tense governing verb and the imperfect subjunctive.

5. Quiero que él lo haga. (present subj.) I want him to do it. Me alegro de I'm glad he's doing it. Dudo I doubt he's doing it. NiegoI deny he's doing it. Es impor tante It's important for him to do it. Quería que lo hiciera. (imperf. subj.) I wanted him to do it. Me alegraba de I was glad he did it. DudabaI doubted he'd do it. Negué I denied he did it (was doing it). Era importante It was important for him to do it.

6. 2. Adverbial clauses (time, purpose, etc.). Remember that the subjunctive is used when the action in the adverbial clause is viewed as anticipated or hypothetical. Again, contrast the present time and past time situations: Lo haremos cuando vengan. (present) We'll do it when they come. después queafter they come. mientraswhile they come. Lo haríamos (or: Íbamos a hacerlo) cuando vinieran (imperfe ct) We were going to do it when they came. despues que after they came. mientras while they were coming.

7. Lo hacemos para que vengan. (present) We do it so they will come. sin que without them coming. con tal que provided they come. Lo hicimos para que vinieran. (impefect) We did it so they'd come. sin que without them coming. con tal que provided they'd come.

8. 3. Adjectival clauses. Remember that the subjunctive is used when there is a negated or indefinite antecedent. Again, contrast the present time and past time situations: No hay nada aquí que me guste. There's nothing here I like. No había nada aquí que me gustara. There was nothing there I liked. Buscamos una criada que hable español. We're looking for a maid who speaks Spanish. Buscábamos una criada que hablara español. We were looking for a maid who spoke Spanish.