1. Tenses of the subjunctive

2. Present subjunctive Swap endings with indicative (normal) tenses If it’s irregular in indicative, it will be irregular in the subjunctive Use FIRST person to start you off, any irregularities there will persisit all the way through, eg the G in tengo, radical changing verbs,spelling changes eg -cir/-cer, -zar,-ger/-car/- guir infinitives. A few are TOTALLY irregular and do not follow the above : ser,caber,haber,ir,saber. If you know your present tense, it is easy !

3. Imperfect subjunctive It has two interchangeable endings, just to make it more weird ! They are totally interchangeable.Advice :just learn one and stick to it ! Formed from 3 rd person plural (they) of the preterite (simple past), then add endings. AR verbs can be –ara or –ase, ir and er verbs can be –iera or –iese If it’s irregular in the preterite 3 rd person plural, it will have that irregularity in the imprefect subjuncive all the way through.

4. Forming imperfect subjunctive Comprar –preterite 3 rd person plural – compraron –subjunctive –comprara (DON’T GET CONFUSED WITH FUTURE TENSE) OR comprase -ara endings-ase endings Comprara Compraras Comprara Compráramos Comprarais compraran Comprase Comprases Comprase Comprásemos Compraseis comprasen Start from 3 rd person plural preterite tense COMPRARON Add endings

5. -ER and –IR verbs -iera endings-iese endings Bebiera Bebieras Bebiera Bebiéramos Bebierais bebieran Bebiese Bebieses Bebiese Bebiésemos Bebieseis bebiesen Start from 3 rd person plral preterite tense endings :bebieron(they drank), add endings.

6. DODGY ONES(easy if you know preterite ones !) When preterite is irregular in 3 rd person plural, it will be perpetuated in the imperfect subjunctive. Radical changing –IR verbs eg dormir (u in 3 rd person stem in preterite)so durmiera in subj. ALL Preterito grave : eg estar (estuvieron in preterite 3 rd person plural), so estuviera in subj.decir –dijeron-dijera Spelling change in preterite(double vowels in infinitive) eg cayeron (they fell) (letter y added ) becomes cayera in subj.

7. Perfect and Pluperfect subjunctive (and that’s all folks-no more tenses !!) Use haya instead of he/has/ha plus past participle for perfect subjunctive.(present subjunctive of haber)eg haya comprado (I might have bought) Use hubiera (imperfect subjunctive of haber) plus past participle for pluperfect subjunctive. Eg hubiera comprado (I might have /would have bought) Which tense of the subjunctive to use ? Mostly common sense, but see the “sequence of tenses” grid.