Present subjunctive is used to express opinion (suggest),
point of view, hopes and wishes that someone else do something. Examples:
Es
bueno que comas vegetales It's good that you eat vegetables
Es importante
que los estudiantes aprendan los verbos irregulares It's important that students learn the irregular verbs
El doctor sugiere que nosotros hagamos ejercicios The doctor suggests that we
exercise
*In the last sentence above, note that this sentence has two parts, each with a different subject,
connected by the word que. The first subject (el doctor) uses the present indicative verb for the suggestion
he made (sugiere) + que and the second subject (nosotros) uses the present subjunctive verb for what
should happen (hagamos).
HOW IS PRESENT SUBJUNCTIVE FORMED To form the subjunctive, drop the -o
ending to the YO form of the present tense and add the apropriate ending.
PAY PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO THE ENDINGS!!!
PRESENT SUBJUNCTIVE OF -AR VERBS Hablar
(to speak) conjugated in the YO form of the present tense: hablo Now,
drop the -o ending and add the appropriate ending:
PRESENT SUBJUNCTIVE OF -ER AND -IR VERBS Comer
(to eat) conjugated in the YO form of the present tense: como Now,
drop the -o ending and add the appropriate ending.
Comer (to eat) Yo coma Tú comas Él/ella/Ud. coma
Escribir (to write) Yo escriba Tú
escribas Él/ella/Ud. escriba
