Perhaps the two most difficult concepts for Spanish students to master are object pronouns and the correct use of the subjunctive tense. I will address the former in future articles.

In this series of lessons I am going to try and simplify the subjunctive. When I was a Spanish teacher in the States I had the opportunity to teach this concept to thousands of students at both the high school and university levels. With a little time and effort most of my students mastered the basics of the subjunctive.

During the 27 years I have lived in Costa Rica I have only run across about twenty five foreigners who speak Spanish fluently (fluency is the ability to be able to let the language flow effortlessly). However, only a handful of them have really master the use of the subjunctive tense.

The first step in learning the subjunctive is to memorize the verb endings. The second step is to know when and how to use them.

Memorize the following REGULAR verb endings.

We form the present subjunctive of most  AR, – ER, and  IR verbs by dropping the – “o” of the present indicative tense “yo” form and by adding the subjunctive endings.

Ojo! (Be careful) If you are a beginning Spanish student or haven’t mastered the present tense yet, then save this series of articles for future reference.

AR VERB ENDINGS
Add o, as, a, amos, an

CantAR
(to sing)
Yo canto
Tú cantas
Usted, él, ella canta
Nosotros cantamos
Ustedes, ellos, ellas cantan

(for advanced students the vos form is cantas)

ER and IR VERB ENDINGS (note they are the same)
o, es, e, emos (imos), en

ComER (to eat)
yo como
Tú comes
Usted, él, ella come
Nosotros comemos
Ustedes, ellos, ellas comen

(for advanced students the vos form is comes)

VivIR (to live)
Yo vivo
Tú vives
Usted, él, ella vive
Nosotros vivimos
Ustedes, ellos, ellas viven

(for advanced students the vos form is vivis)