A Guide to the Spanish Indicative vs. Subjunctive

7 min read

You’ve heard of tenses, but what about moods? Click to learn the difference between two of the main Spanish moods: the indicative and the subjunctive!

At a certain point in your Spanish-learning journey, you come across the words ‘indicative’ and ‘subjunctive.’ In this lesson, we’ll investigate the difference between them!

Moods vs. Tenses

Okay, so when we’re learning languages, we often learn about tenses. Tenses tell you when something happens, e.g. present, future, past.

There’s another language concept to know about, and it’s called ‘mood.’ Mood is different from tense, because it’s less about time and more about the speaker’s attitude toward what they’re saying.

Spanish has three moods:

1. The indicative

The indicative has several simple and compound tenses. Common forms include the following; the list is not exhaustive.

You’ve probably seen most of them before, and we have learning materials for all of them!

• Present indicative
• Imperfect indicative
• Preterite
• Perfect indicative
• Pluperfect
• Future indicative
• Conditional

2. The Spanish Subjunctive. Its commonly used simple tenses are the present and imperfect:

• Present subjunctive
• Imperfect subjunctive

Compound subjunctive forms include the perfect (haya hablado) and pluperfect (hubiera/hubiese hablado). Future subjunctive forms are rare in everyday Spanish, but survive in legal language and fixed expressions.

3. Imperative. This is the mood used when giving commands.

The Spanish Indicative

Start by learning common constructions in each mood. A useful expression may call for the indicative or subjunctive, and some allow either with a change in meaning. A checklist of “triggers” is a starting point, not a rule for every sentence.

The indicative commonly presents information as a statement, assertion, or belief. It does not guarantee that something is true or certain: Creo que viene (I think he/she is coming) uses the indicative.

This could include:

• Something that happened in the past.
• A description or opinion presented as a statement: Creo que es interesante (I think it is interesting).
• An event that’s been scheduled and we know it will happen.

Don’t freak out; the indicative is the mood that you normally use without even thinking about it. Here are some examples using a variety of tenses, which you may well already know!

• Bebo agua. (Present)I drink water.
• Comiste mucho chocolate. (Preterite)You ate a lot of chocolate.
• El concierto tendrá lugar mañana. (Future)The concert will take place tomorrow.
• Hoy hemos visto dos leones y una cebra. (Perfect)Today we’ve seen two lions and a zebra.
• Cocinábamos cuando sonó el teléfono. (Imperfect, preterite)We were cooking when the phone rang.
• Tus padres harían cualquier cosa para ti. (Conditional)Your parents would do anything for you.

The Spanish Subjunctive

The subjunctive can be harder to get your head around, but it doesn’t have to be feared or avoided! To start with, you just need to know that there are certain situations and phrases that trigger it!

If you’re new to this whole subjunctive thing, it’s best to learn the triggers, and practice often! If you’re more advanced, you might find that you’re sometimes able to just ~feel~ when the subjunctive is needed.

The subjunctive appears in constructions involving wishes, doubt, recommendations, emotional reactions, and other meanings. It can refer to a known fact: Me alegro de que estés aquí (I’m glad you’re here). UWEIRDO is a useful memory aid, but the expression and context determine the mood.

• Uuncertainty/possibility
• Wwishes
• Eemotions
• Iimpersonal expressions
• Rrecommendations
• Ddoubts
• Oojalá

For each letter, we’ve given you some examples. The bold word in each case is the verb that’s been put in the subjunctive.

Many common examples have the following pattern. These are not requirements for every subjunctive sentence: Ojalá llueva (I hope it rains) has one clause.

1. 1Different subjects are common with wishes: Quiero que vengas (I want you to come).
2. 2Two verbs.
3. 3A linking word such as que. In Quiero que vengas, que is a conjunction; in un chico que tenga ojos azules, it is a relative pronoun.

• Uncertainty/possibility

This applies when something is possible but not certain.

One form of uncertainty is when the existence of something isn’t definite.

• Busco a un chico que tiene ojos azules. (Indicative)I’m looking for a guy who has blue eyes. (A specific guy, e.g. a friend who definitely exists. He happens to have blue eyes.)
• Busco un chico que tenga ojos azules. (Subjunctive)I’m looking for a guy who has blue eyes. (There may or may not exist an appropriate guy with blue eyes, but I want a guy and I want him to have blue eyes.)
• 
  No estoy de acuerdo con los que dicen eso. (Indicative)I don’t agree with those who say that. (There are definitely people who say that. I don’t agree with them.)
• No estoy de acuerdo con los que digan eso. (Subjunctive)I don’t agree with those who may say that. (There might be some people who say that. If there are, then I don’t agree with them.)

Time clauses with cuando use the subjunctive for a future event that has not happened yet. This applies even when the speaker expects the event to happen; it is not simply a statement of doubt.

The word ‘cuando’ is a big clue that we might need the subjunctive.

• Wishes

Use the subjunctive when talking about wishes, wants, and desires.

The exception to this is if the subject of both parts of the sentence is the same person. You don’t have to say, ‘Quiero que yo cocine.’ You can simply use the infinitive, and say, ‘Quiero cocinar.’

• Emotions

The subjunctive is a great way to express when something makes you feel an emotion, for example when something annoys you, or makes you happy.

*The construction ‘sentir que + subjunctive’ is a way of expressing apology.

• Impersonal expressions

Impersonal expressions are for stating an observation or opinion. Instead of starting with any old verb conjugated to a specific person, we start with the verb ser in the third-person singular.

Usually the sentence structure is: ‘es + adjective + que + subjunctive.’

• Recommendations

Often, when we recommend or suggest something, we’ll need the subjunctive.

• Doubts

When you’re doubting, disbelieving, or denying something, you can use the subjunctive.

• Ojalá

‘Ojalá’ is an interesting word that has its roots in Arabic. It would originally have meant something along the lines of ‘God willing’ but the religious connotation has now been more or less lost.

A decent translation for ‘ojalá’ is ‘hopefully.’

Quiz

Time to see if you’ve started to wrap your head around this indicative/subjunctive business! For each sentence, simply decide whether we’ll need the indicative or subjunctive!

1. I hate that I can’t get over you.

2. I went to the shop.

3. We’ll be able to go anywhere once I have my new car.

4. I don’t think the rumors are true.

5. I have two dogs.

6. It’s good that Wendy is by your side.

7. I would call Flavia.

8. I hope that Julieta will marry me

Phew!

If you’re new to the difference between the indicative and the subjunctive, then congrats for making it this far. If you’ve seen it before, then hopefully this has been valuable practice for you (¡ojalá!).