The Spanish Imperfect Subjunctive: All You Need to Know

By Annabel Beilby Published: April 22, 2020

10 min read

What’s the Spanish imperfect subjunctive mood? Why do we need it? How do we use it? It can be a lot less complex than it sounds. Read about it here.

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When do we use the subjunctive?How to form the Spanish imperfect subjunctive When do we use the imperfect subjunctive?Awkward stems Quiz

“If I were you” is a useful English comparison for a hypothetical situation, but English and Spanish tense and mood forms do not correspond one to one. Spanish uses the imperfect subjunctive in Si yo fuera tú.

In formal English, If I were you is the usual hypothetical form. If I was you also occurs in informal speech; this English usage distinction is not a complete rule for Spanish.

In this lesson, we’ll talk about the Spanish imperfect subjunctive.

When do we use the subjunctive?

The subjunctive is a mood used in constructions expressing wishes, doubt, reactions, and other meanings. It can also refer to a known fact, as in an emotional reaction. UWEIRDO is a memory aid, not a complete rule:

Uuncertainty/possibility
Wwishes
Eemotions
Iimpersonal expressions
Rrecommendations
Ddoubts
Oojalá

For more explanation on this, please check out our article on the present subjunctive, and take a look at this lesson on the difference between the Spanish subjunctive and the indicative.

Check out this article for common subjunctive expressions. With a past main verb, the imperfect subjunctive often fits; an earlier completed action may instead need the pluperfect subjunctive.

How to form the Spanish imperfect subjunctive

The imperfect subjunctive isn’t too difficult to form. All you have to do is add the correct endings to the stem.

To find the stem, you take the third person plural of the preterite, and drop the –ron! Let me show you what I mean:

InfinitiveHablar
Third person plural (ellos/ellas) in the preteriteHablaron
Stem for imperfect subjunctive!Habla-

For most regular verbs, you’ll find that the stems look quite similar. For –ar verbs, it’s the infinitive minus the final -r. For -er and -ir verbs, you drop the –er or –ir and change it to -ie. This’ll become more apparent once you’ve seen some examples.

Here are the imperfect subjunctive endings. These endings will see you through regular verbs (-ar, –er, and –ir), irregular verbs, and stem-changing verbs!

-ra-ramos*
-ras-rais
-ra-ran

*We’ll have to add an accent to the vowel that comes just before the ‘-ramos.’ For example, habláramos, comiéramos.

The -ra and -se forms are normally interchangeable in ordinary subordinate subjunctive clauses and hypothetical si clauses. The -ra form also has some additional uses, including the polite quisiera (“I would like”). This article mostly uses -ra.

-se-semos*
-ses-seis
-se-sen

*We’ll have to add an accent to the vowel that comes just before the ‘-semos.’ For example, hablásemos, comiésemos.

When do we use the imperfect subjunctive?

Spanish has present and imperfect subjunctive forms, plus the compound perfect and pluperfect subjunctive. The name “imperfect” does not mean it always refers to the past: it can also express a hypothetical present or future situation.

The present subjunctive commonly refers to a present or future situation after a main clause in the present, future, or imperative. For an already completed action, the perfect subjunctive may be needed instead.

The imperfect subjunctive often follows a past or conditional main verb, when the construction requires the subjunctive. Choose the tense according to when the subordinate action occurs; an earlier completed action may require the pluperfect subjunctive.

Conditional

When the main clause is in the conditional, this can trigger the imperfect subjunctive.

Habría preferido que no estuviera Juan en la clase.

I would have preferred that Juan not be in the class.

Estarían contentos con que terminaras el ensayo para la semana que viene.

They’d be happy with you finishing the essay by next week.

‘If… then…’ (conditional)

Sometimes we want to talk about things that would happen if another (unlikely) condition were fulfilled.

Compare:

Indicative (likely): ‘Si cobro lo suficiente este mes, te invitaré una bebida.’ (‘If I earn enough this month, I’ll buy you a drink.’)

Subjunctive (unlikely): ‘Si me tocara la lotería, te invitaría a cenar cada noche en mi mansión.’ (‘If I won the lottery, I’d invite you for dinner every night at my mansion.’)

This structure can take one of two forms:

Si + imperfect subjunctive + conditional (IF + A happened, THEN + B would happen)

Conditional + si + imperfect subjunctive (B would happen + IF + A happened)

Si yo fuera tú, terminaría con él.

If I were you, I’d end it with him.

Ross no te perdonaría si supiera la verdad.

Ross wouldn’t forgive you if he knew the truth.

With past tense clauses (pluperfect, imperfect, preterite)

When the main clause is in the past tense, the imperfect subjunctive may be needed!

Se había decidido que fuéramos al cine.
It had been decided that we would go to the cinema.
No esperábamos que le pusieras los cuernos a nuestro hermano.We didn’t expect that you would cheat on our brother.
Yo estaba sorprendida de que me hubieras llamado.
I was surprised that you had called me. Here hubieras llamado is the pluperfect subjunctive: the call happened before the surprise.
El dentista recomendó que comierais menos chuches.The dentist recommended that you (plural) eat less candy.

It’s even possible to use it with a present tense clause expressing a feeling or reaction to something in the past.

Lamento que Ana no aprovechara más oportunidades.
I regret that Ana did not take advantage of more opportunities.

Making polite requests

The verb querer (‘to want’) is conjugated into the imperfect subjunctive like this:

quisiera/quisiesequisiéramos/quisiésemos
quisieras/quisiesesquisierais/quisieseis
quisiera/quisiesequisieran/quisiesen

For a polite request, use quisiera (“I would like”); querría is another option. The conjugation table shows both imperfect subjunctive forms, but do not assume that quisiese freely replaces quisiera in this independent courtesy use.

Buenos días. Quisiera hablar con el director de la compañía por favor.

Hello. I would like to speak with the head of the company please.

Quisiera una cerveza.

I would like a beer.

‘Como si…’ (‘as if…’)

Another situation that requires the imperfect subjunctive is when we want to compare something using the phrase ‘como si’ (‘as if’/’as though’).

Fue como si Marga y Alba tuvieran un secreto.

It was as if Marga and Alba had a secret.

El hombre me miraba como si me conociera.

The man was looking at me as though he knew me.

‘Antes de que…’ (‘before…’)

Antes de que normally takes the subjunctive. With a past main verb, the imperfect subjunctive is common; the pluperfect subjunctive can be used for an action viewed as already completed at the relevant point.

Llegaste antes de que me hubiera arreglado.

You arrived before I had got ready.

La temperatura de la sala había ido subiendo antes de que se desmayara Alberto.

The temperature of the room had been rising before Alberto fainted.

‘Para que…’ (‘in order to…’/’in order that…’)

The word ‘para’ can be used with an infinitive, e.g. ‘Fui a su casa para cenar.’ (‘I went to their house to have dinner.’). This works when the subject of both verbs is the same, i.e. in the example above, it’s me who’s arrived, and it’s me who’s going to dine.

But what happens if each verb has a different subject? This is when we use ‘para que’ (‘in order to’).

Fui a su casa para que cenáramos juntos.

I went to their house so that we could have dinner together.

Te lo regalé para que lo usaras.

I gave it to you in order for you to use it.

Awkward stems

So, we know that you have to know the preterite conjugation of a verb in order to find the necessary stem.

In case there are any odd verbs that you don’t know how to conjugate in the third person plural preterite, you can check with this list of imperfect subjunctive stems:

Caber (to fit)Cupie-
Caer (to fall)Caye-
Conducir (to drive)Conduje-
Creer (to believe)Creye-
Dar (to give)Die-
Decir (to say)Dije-
Destruir (to destroy)Destruye-
Dormir (to sleep)Durmie-
Estar (to be)Estuvie-
Haber (to be in existence)Hubie-
Hacer (to do/to make)Hicie-
Incluir (to include)Incluye-
Ir (to go)Fue-*
Leer (to read)Leye-
Morir (to die)Murie-
Oír (to hear)Oye-
Pedir (to ask for)Pidie-
Poder (to be able to)Pudie-
Poner (to put)Pusie-
Preferir (to prefer)Prefirie-
Producir (to produce)Produje-
Querer (to want)Quisie-
Reír (to laugh)Rie-
Repetir (to repeat)Repitie-
Requerir (to require)Requirie-
Saber (to know)Supie-
Seguir (to follow)Siguie-
Sentir (to feel)Sintie-
Ser (to be)Fue-*
Servir (to serve)Sirvie-
Tener (to have)Tuvie-
Traducir (to translate)Traduje-
Traer (to bring)Traje-
Venir (to come)Vinie-
Ver (to see)Vie-

The verbs in bold are some of the most common and important ones. Take a look at some example sentences that involve these verbs.

Mi madre no creía que yo estuviera en mi cuarto.
My mother did not believe that I was in my room. The negated belief supports the subjunctive; an affirmative creía que normally takes the indicative.
Si hubiera más conocimiento de la salud mental, habría menos estigma.If there were more understanding of mental health, there would be less stigma.
El profesor iba a deciros que hicieseis vuestros ejercicios.The teacher was going to tell you (plural) to do your exercises.
Me pregunté qué pasaría si simplemente nos fuéramos del país.I asked myself what would happen if we simply left the country.
Mi coche se ha averiado. Te visitaría hoy si pudiera.My car has broken down. I would visit you today if I could.
Oye, ¡te pedí que pusieras la mesa! ¡Ánimo!Listen, I asked you to set the table! Get to it!
Era mentira que Patrick fuera médico.It was a lie that Patrick was a doctor.
Ted preparó todo antes de que su fiesta tuviera lugar.Ted prepared everything before his party took place.

Quiz

In question 5, the blank is an imperfect subjunctive form of haber; together with pasado, it forms the pluperfect subjunctive.

This stuff isn’t easy, so if you want to see how much you’ve taken in, try this quiz. Try to correctly conjugate the appropriate verb in the imperfect subjunctive!

1. Si _ de nuestros problemas, no serían tan graves. (Hablar)
If we talked about our problems, they would not be so serious.