The Subjunctive tense (Spanish)?

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Steve

I think that the subjunctive is technically a "mood" and not a "case". At least I remember that if we were to call it a tense in my high school Spanish class, our teacher would fuss at us. Of course, she'd also told us that we were only to speak in Spanish, so we'd also be in trouble for calling it the subjunctive.

Now, if I were you, I'd revisit the assumption that there's not much use of the subjunctive in English. I suggest you visit the Wikipedia article on the subjunctive, since it has quite a few examples of the subjunctive's use in English. If you were to use some examples with your students, I think it would help them to understand what the subjunctive is. I hope I gave you an idea of how you might do that with this answer. Unless I be mistaken, every sentence I've used so far contains the subjunctive.

As to how best to explain the Spanish use of the subjunctive, which is a little bit different, I'd start with the "quiero que" or "es importante que"-style constructions, because I think the "verb that other verb" structure makes them easy to remember and for me the contrast in meaning between "SÃ© que Salma me ama" and "Espero que Salma me ame" is a strong one that makes it easy to grasp why some "verb other verb" has indicative and some has subjunctive. Also, you might (going back to the use examples suggestion) draw parallels between phrases like "God save the Queen" or "God bless you" and the "OjalÃ¡ que..." phrase. By the same token, "May the best man win" translates directly to "Que gane el mejor". That's probably also a very good illustration of the subjunctive in both languages.

I hope that helps!

kanman5000

The subjunctive is a tense that is used to indicate possibility, uncertainty or hope. It's basically where what is stated is uncertain - it has yet to happen and you don't know if it will. (e.g. I hope you make it to class on time, I want you to give me back my book).

Technically, I believe the English language has subjunctive - there is just no change in conjugation except with "If I/he/she were ..." according to prescriptive grammar.

Kate J

First, this belongs in the LANGUAGES category, as it has nothing to do with traveling in Spain.

Second, it's REALLY important to understand that SUBJUNCTIVE is not a TENSE at all, it is a MOOD, and, yes, we actually DO use it in English, we simply don't recognize it, because it LOOKS like any other verb.

TENSES: present, past and future (and degrees of those).

MOODS: Indicative (really have happened, are happening or will happen), Conditional (action is dependent upon something else), SUBJUNCTIVE (subject to the whims of someone else)

Then you need to go over the lists of different cue phrases: (the classes of reasont why you use the subj.) the Mandatos, etc. (I don't have a text book handy, but I'll bet you have them), and teach the students, not just to memorize the phrases, but to memorize them...INCLUDING A VERB IN THE SUBJUNCTIVE. so, not just "para que..." but "para que sepa..."

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