{"id":165,"date":"2025-03-14T16:10:35","date_gmt":"2025-03-14T16:10:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mariaortegagarcia.com\/?p=165"},"modified":"2025-03-14T16:20:15","modified_gmt":"2025-03-14T16:20:15","slug":"how-to-understand-the-spanish-subjunctive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mariaortegagarcia.com\/es\/spanish-blog\/how-to-understand-the-spanish-subjunctive\/","title":{"rendered":"How to understand the Spanish Subjunctive"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Whenever I ask my new students, subscribers, or any member of my audience what they struggle with, the answer is always the Subjunctive.<\/p>

And I get it. There are things in English whose logic took me time to get. And there are things I still don\u2019t get, like\u00a0the pronunciation<\/a>, for example.<\/p>

Unfortunately, no mnemonic rule will help you understand the Subjunctive because the Subjunctive is not a WEIRDO. Poor \u201cemo\u201d subjunctive! Spanish Subjunctive is\u00a0unreal<\/b>, though.<\/p>

But the problem is that if you approach\u201d it or find the Subjunctive trying to \u201chack a \u201cmagic\u201d rule, like the WEIRDO one, you will end up finding more exceptions than normality. As a result, you might end up developing fear and hatred towards the Subjunctive, placing the Subjunctive in the \u201cillogical\u201d box and trying to avoid using it. And, therefore, making yourself a forever \u201cnon-fluent\u201d or \u201cnon-natural\u201d Spanish speaker and making your expression in Spanish much poorer.<\/p>

The Spanish Subjunctive is not weird, and you can\u2019t do Spanish without it. The good news is that it is\u00a0very logical\u00a0and follows a \u201crule\u201d, as in, it follows a \u201cprinciple of behaviour\u201d. It always behaves in the same way!<\/p>

As\u00a0George Julian wrote for Fluent in 3 months<\/a>: \u201cIf they [Spanish speakers] need to choose between\u00a0habla<\/i>\u00a0(indicative) and\u00a0hable<\/i>\u00a0(subjunctive), they don\u2019t think about what the \u201crules\u201d are. They pick the word that\u00a0means<\/i>\u00a0what they want to say. The \u201cWEIRDO\u201d mnemonic doesn\u2019t factor into their reasoning.\u00a0So, if you want to use the subjunctive correctly, this is the first and most important step you must take:\u00a0you must understand what it means.\u201d\u00a0<\/b><\/p>

And I couldn\u2019t agree more.<\/p>

This post is about the one thing you need to understand what the Subjunctive means, so you can use it well once and for all.<\/p>

The Subjunctive is unreal, as in, it is amazing, but also, as in, it is non-factual, not real.<\/p>

Why do you need subjunctive? Because we are humans, not machines telling data. Sometimes we need to be as neutral and objective as we can, but most of the time we tell things subjectively, from our point of view.<\/i><\/p>

Without realising it, we assess information and communicate our personal take on the information we relate. Es importante que mi pareja me escuche. It\u2019s important that my partner listens to me. As obvious as it sounds, this is not a fact.<\/i><\/p>

The piece of information \u201cmy partner listens to me\u201d is not fact; it is something that I consider important. I assess that information as something important \u201cto me\u201d. There is an emotion attached to this information, so if my partner doesn\u2019t listen to me, I\u2019d be pissed.<\/i><\/p>

You might be surprised at the type of information we commonly communicate in our conversations. We tend to express ourselves, our points of view, our emotions, or our will more often than we relate facts.<\/i><\/p>

So, going back to the questions I posed you at the beginning. Why do you need a Subjunctive? We need a subjunctive to talk about everything that is not a fact.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>

In these words lay the entire mindset of the Subjunctive.<\/p>

The rest of the pages only go through every case and situation to show how they follow the rule, always and without exception, so you can be confident in their use.<\/p>

So, the Indicative tells truths and data and passes on raw and unfiltered information and facts. Indicative is REAL.<\/p>

The Subjunctive acts as a mirror of the indicative but coats all those facts, truths, and data with the filter of emotion, transforming them into non-factual. The Subjunctive is the filter that transforms plain and neutral facts into a subjective thing. And that thing is NOT A FACT anymore; it is something else: it is my personal assessment, my desire, it\u2019s something I don\u2019t know it\u2019s real\u2026<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Subjunctive: Transforming Facts into Non-Facts<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Yo\u00a0<\/i>estoy<\/i>\u00a0enfadada porque mi jefe\u00a0<\/i>es<\/i>\u00a0un machista<\/i>. \u2014 Both are facts. Cause and effect:\u00a0Yo estoy enfadada<\/i>\u00a0is very much a fact. It also is a fact (or I am conveying it as a fact) that\u00a0mi jefe es machista<\/i>.<\/p>

However,<\/p>

Me\u00a0<\/i>enfada<\/i>\u00a0que mi jefe\u00a0<\/i>sea<\/i>\u00a0machista<\/i>. \u2014 The only fact here is that something angers me, the other information is tainted by my anger. The information here is not that my boss is sexist, but that it angers me that he is.<\/p>

Es<\/i>\u00a0importante que\u00a0<\/i>haga<\/i>\u00a0meditaci\u00f3n todos los d\u00edas.<\/i>\u00a0\u2014- Also, not a fact because what is important for me might not be for others. The only fact here is that I consider something to be important (indicativo). The thing I consider important is not a fact (subjuntivo).<\/p>

So, it is ESSENTIAL that you question what is it you want to communicate when you speak Spanish.<\/b>\u00a0Do you want to convey something as a fact or truth? Or you want to express how that fact makes you feel, that you want it, or that you don\u2019t know it to be true?<\/p>

Let me show you the difference between facts and not-facts. Read the following sentences:<\/p>

FACTS<\/p>

Juan ha venido.<\/i><\/p>

S\u00e9 que Juan ha venido.<\/i><\/p>

Creo* que Juan ha venido.<\/i><\/p>

Those were facts. But, when one doesn\u2019t know if the information is real, we have a NON-FACT.<\/p>

Ignoro que Juan haya venido.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>

No creo que* Juan haya venido.<\/i><\/p>

What does it look like when I say that\u00a0the Subjunctive is a coat of EMOTION over the fact?<\/b>\u00a0Have a look at the following sentences:<\/p>

Quiero<\/i>\u00a0que Juan\u00a0<\/i>venga<\/i>\u00a0(It\u2019s my desire, and desire comes from the heart, Desire is the emotion of longing or hoping for a person, object, or outcome)<\/p>

Me gusta que Juan venga<\/i>. (How I feel about it)<\/p>

Es fant\u00e1stico que Juan venga<\/i>. (How I feel about it)<\/p>

\u00d3jala que Juan venga<\/i>. (Desire, what I want)<\/p>

Pepa le est\u00e1 diciendo a Juan que venga.<\/i>\u00a0(Instruction, what I want)<\/p>

Invito a Juan para que venga.<\/i>\u00a0(My purpose, what I want)<\/p>

Hablar\u00e9 con Juan cuando venga.<\/i>\u00a0(Future, not real yet)<\/p>

No hablar\u00e9 con Juan aunque venga<\/i>\u00a0(Objection, not real yet)<\/p>

Just, look at the dichotomy \u201ccreo + indicativo\u201d and \u201cno creo + subjuntivo\u201d. This is not illogical and a \u201cquirk\u201d that one has to memorise.\u00a0<\/p>

( * ) For a native Spanish speaker, a belief is as real as a fact. Therefore we use Indicative to talk about our beliefs. However, if I negate my belief, that makes it not real. If I negate reality, it means that it\u2019s not real. Therefore, I use Subjunctive.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Subjunctive: Looking at Reality through the Looking-Glass\n<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Think of the Subjunctive as \u201creality seen through the looking-glass,\u201d where we see an imaginary o non-real world on the other side of the mirror that reflects the reality but it not real.<\/p>

As Lewis Carrol said:<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019m not strange, weird, off, nor crazy, my reality is just different from yours\u201d<\/i><\/p>

He probably wasn\u2019t referring about the Spanish Subjunctive, but if the Spanish Subjunctive were a person, it would be most definitely saying those words.\u00a0<\/p>

And is it not wonderful that we can consciously express this non-reality with a choice of a verb? Is it not a great enhancement of communication that we can filter our imaginary (non-real) world on the other side of the mirror by using one mood or another, either Indicative or Subjunctive?<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Whenever I ask my new students, subscribers, or any member of my audience what they struggle with, the answer is always the Subjunctive. And I get it. There are things […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,14,15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-165","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spanish-blog","8":"category-education","9":"category-learning-spanish","10":"czr-hentry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mariaortegagarcia.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mariaortegagarcia.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mariaortegagarcia.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mariaortegagarcia.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mariaortegagarcia.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mariaortegagarcia.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":170,"href":"https:\/\/mariaortegagarcia.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165\/revisions\/170"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mariaortegagarcia.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mariaortegagarcia.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mariaortegagarcia.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mariaortegagarcia.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}