Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Glossary of grammatical terms
- Note on the text
- Short bibliography
- 1 Alphabet, spelling and pronunciation (Alfabeto, ortografía y pronunciación)
- 2 Definite and indefinite articles and gender of nouns (Artículos definidos e indefinidos y género de sustantivos)
- 3 Number (El plural)
- 4 Verbs (Los verbos)
- 5 Perfect tense and pluperfect tense (El [pretérito] perfecto y el pluscuamperfecto / antecopretérito [M])
- 6 Future tense and future perfect tense (El tiempo futuro y el futuro perfecto)
- 7 Imperfect tense (El tiempo imperfecto/copretérito [M])
- 8 Preterit tense or past definite (El pretérito indefinido / pretérito perfecto simple)
- 9 Conditional tense (El tiempo condicional)
- 10 Progressive tense or gerund (El tiempo progresivo o el gerundio)
- 11 The imperative mood (El modo imperativo)
- 12 Irregular verbs (Los verbos irregulares)
- 13 Ser and estar (Ser y estar)
- 14 Transitive and intransitive verbs, and reflexive verbs (Los verbos transitivos e intransitivos, y los verbos reflexivos)
- 15 Impersonal verbs (Los verbos impersonales)
- 16 Subjunctive (El subjuntivo)
- 17 Personal pronouns (Los pronombres personales)
- 18 Possessive adjectives and pronouns, relative and interrogative pronouns (Los adjetivos y pronombres posesivos, los pronombres relativos e interrogativos)
- 19 Indefinite pronouns (Los pronombres indefinidos)
- 20 Demonstrative adjectives and pronouns (Los adjetivos y pronombres demostrativos)
- 21 Adjectives (Los adjetivos)
- 22 Personal or distinctive a (La preposiciónacon el complemento directo)
- 23 Prepositions (Las preposiciones)
- 24 Prepositions por and para (Las preposiciones por y para)
- 25 Adverbs (Los adverbios)
- 26 Interrogative and negative sentences (Las frases interrogativas y negativas)
- 27 Numbers and measurements. Time and dimensions (Los números y las medidas. El tiempo [duración = la hora] y las dimensiones)
- 28 Comparatives and superlatives (Los comparativos y superlativos)
- 29 Word order (El orden de las palabras)
- 30 Augmentatives and diminutives (Los aumentativos y diminutivos)
- Model answers / Soluciones y modelos
- Index of grammar and vocabulary
- Subjunctive index
16 - Subjunctive (El subjuntivo)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Glossary of grammatical terms
- Note on the text
- Short bibliography
- 1 Alphabet, spelling and pronunciation (Alfabeto, ortografía y pronunciación)
- 2 Definite and indefinite articles and gender of nouns (Artículos definidos e indefinidos y género de sustantivos)
- 3 Number (El plural)
- 4 Verbs (Los verbos)
- 5 Perfect tense and pluperfect tense (El [pretérito] perfecto y el pluscuamperfecto / antecopretérito [M])
- 6 Future tense and future perfect tense (El tiempo futuro y el futuro perfecto)
- 7 Imperfect tense (El tiempo imperfecto/copretérito [M])
- 8 Preterit tense or past definite (El pretérito indefinido / pretérito perfecto simple)
- 9 Conditional tense (El tiempo condicional)
- 10 Progressive tense or gerund (El tiempo progresivo o el gerundio)
- 11 The imperative mood (El modo imperativo)
- 12 Irregular verbs (Los verbos irregulares)
- 13 Ser and estar (Ser y estar)
- 14 Transitive and intransitive verbs, and reflexive verbs (Los verbos transitivos e intransitivos, y los verbos reflexivos)
- 15 Impersonal verbs (Los verbos impersonales)
- 16 Subjunctive (El subjuntivo)
- 17 Personal pronouns (Los pronombres personales)
- 18 Possessive adjectives and pronouns, relative and interrogative pronouns (Los adjetivos y pronombres posesivos, los pronombres relativos e interrogativos)
- 19 Indefinite pronouns (Los pronombres indefinidos)
- 20 Demonstrative adjectives and pronouns (Los adjetivos y pronombres demostrativos)
- 21 Adjectives (Los adjetivos)
- 22 Personal or distinctive a (La preposiciónacon el complemento directo)
- 23 Prepositions (Las preposiciones)
- 24 Prepositions por and para (Las preposiciones por y para)
- 25 Adverbs (Los adverbios)
- 26 Interrogative and negative sentences (Las frases interrogativas y negativas)
- 27 Numbers and measurements. Time and dimensions (Los números y las medidas. El tiempo [duración = la hora] y las dimensiones)
- 28 Comparatives and superlatives (Los comparativos y superlativos)
- 29 Word order (El orden de las palabras)
- 30 Augmentatives and diminutives (Los aumentativos y diminutivos)
- Model answers / Soluciones y modelos
- Index of grammar and vocabulary
- Subjunctive index
Summary
Don't allow the term subjunctive to put you off. It may have all but disappeared in English though we still use it on occasions (“If I were you”), and is slowly slipping away in French, but it is still very much a mood to be reckoned with in Spanish, both in Spain and Spanish America. So it is a very necessary tool for correct expression in Spanish. Much as it is in Italian, in fact.
Before we embark on the subjunctive in Spanish, it is a good idea to see how complicated it is to express the subjunctive in English. You can be comforted by the fact that in Spanish the rules are logical whereas in English they are not. Examples in English: I want him to go / I wish he would go / It is necessary that he go / I am happy that he does it tomorrow.
Whereas the indicative (see unit 4) relates to clear knowledge and certainty, the subjunctive is linked to doubt, commands, uncertainty, desire, aspiration, risk, and danger. The indicative appears in both main and subordinate clauses but the subjunctive appears nearly always in subordinate ones. If we take the two following examples:
i Te he dicho que voy al cine I (have) told you I'm going to the movies
ii Te he dicho que vayas al cine I (have) told you to go to the movies
In the first sentence, we have a main clause (he dicho) and a subordinate clause (voy), both in the indicative.
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- Chapter
- Information
- A Student Grammar of Spanish , pp. 129 - 153Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006