Presente de Subjuntivo: die Formen

The subjunctive frightens learners because of its reputation, not because of its forms. English still has scraps of it ("I suggest he be on time", "if I were you"), but hardly notices them. Spanish uses it constantly. The good news: you already know the forms. They are the usted command forms, spread across all six persons.

The recipe

Take the yo form of the present, drop the -o, add the "opposite" vowel: -ar verbs take e, -er/-ir verbs take a.

The recipe brings the irregulars with it

Because you start from the yo form, its irregularity carries through all six persons for free: tengo → tenga, salgo → salga, conozco → conozca, digo → diga, oigo → oiga, pongo → ponga, hago → haga. You have heard some of these for years: ¡Oiga! to get a waiter's attention, ¿Diga? answering the phone in Spain.

Spelling adjusts to keep the sound: buscar → busque, pagar → pague, empezar → empiece.

Six verbs that break the recipe

Dé carries an accent to keep it apart from the preposition de.

Stem-changing verbs

They change where the present changes (quiera, pueda, cierre, vuelva) and stay plain in nosotros and vosotros (queramos, volváis). Verbs in -ir are the exception again: they keep a reduced change there too, pedir → pidamos, pidáis; dormir → durmamos, durmáis; sentir → sintamos.

What you need at A2

Not the whole subjunctive. You need to recognise these forms and produce them after a handful of very common structures: quiero que..., espero que..., ojalá..., es importante que..., and the negative commands you have already met (no hables is a subjunctive). The next two topics cover the structures.

Where English speakers slip

• Building from the infinitive instead of the yo form: *conoza, *tena. Conozco gives conozca; tengo gives tenga.
• Keeping the indicative vowel: *Quiero que comes, *Espero que vives bien. The vowel swaps: -ar goes to e (que hables), -er and -ir go to a (que comas, que vivas).