The Everything Spanish Grammar Book: All The Rules You Need To Master Espanol (Everything®) (24 page)

–AR and –ER verbs with the o > ue stem change follow the same “four out of six” rule. Take a look at the present-subjunctive conjugations of
contar
(to count, to tell) and
poder
(to be able to):

Other verbs that behave in the same fashion include the following:

The rule for stem-changing –IR verbs is a little different. In the
nosotros
and
vosotros
forms, the stem vowel changes as follows:
e > i, o > u. Here are two examples,
mentir
(to lie) and
dormir
(to sleep):

Spelling-Modification Irregularities

For some verbs, there’s a spelling modification that does not occur with the
yo
form of the present indicative, but which does occur in other forms and which is necessary in the present subjunctive. The letters involved in the spelling modification are “c,” “g,” and “z,” and they are found at the end of the stem, where their interaction with the endings results in the change.

When you’re conjugating an –AR verb in the present subjunctive, the “e” in the endings requires the following changes:

c > qu

g > gu

z > c

For example, take a look at the conjugations of
tocar
(to touch),
llegar
(to arrive), and
cruzar
(to cross):

Alternatively, –ER and –IR verbs might require one of the following changes, brought on by the endings that begin with “a”:

c > z

g > j

gu > g

To illustrate how this works, here are the conjugations of
conocer
(to know),
proteger
(to protect), and
seguir
(to follow):

FACT

Other Irregularities

A small group of verbs have an irregular stem that you’ll need to memorize; these verbs retain the regular present-subjunctive endings.

Three other verbs—
dar
(to give),
estar
(to be), and
oler
(to smell)—have irregular present subjunctive forms. Their conjugations are:

Indicative or Subjunctive?

The rule of thumb when choosing between indicative and subjunctive is to ask yourself whether the verb is used to describe a state or action that is concrete (whether it takes place in the past, present, or future doesn’t make any difference here) or whether it is potential and/or subjective. For example, compare the two statements:

Yo sé que Alana está bien.

I know that Alana is well.

Yo espero que Alana esté bien.

I hope that Alana is well.

In the first example, the statement refers to something that is known—that Alana is well. The second statement isn’t describing something that’s definite. It is merely expressing hope that Alana is well—whether she is in fact well isn’t the point here. In Spanish, this kind of uncertainty requires the use of the subjunctive.

ALERT

Two Verbs Connected with
Que

Present subjunctive is frequently used within a
que
(that) clause, as in the previous example. Whether or not the
que
clause should have a subjunctive-mood verb depends on the verb in the main clause. Here’s another example:

Ella duda que tú entiendas la lección.

She doubts you understand the lesson.

Because the sentence’s main action is
dudar
(to doubt), the verb
entender
(to understand) inside the
que
clause is in the subjunctive mood. Several different groups of verbs generally take on a subjunctive
que
clause: