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We use El Pretérito Imperfecto Subjuntivo in some subordinate clauses and in particularly polite requests.
All Spanish verbs can be conjugated in El Pretérito Imperfecto Subjuntivo -there are two conjugations sets to use for this tense. Some verbs are irregular in the imperfect subjunctive if they are irregular in the preterite, for example the verb "haber".
Learn how to conjugate Spanish verb haber in El Pretérito Imperfecto Subjuntivo in Spanish
Rather unusually, this tense has two conjugation forms. Take a look at haber conjugated in El Pretérito Imperfecto Subjuntivo:
Conjugation 1 (used widely in speech in Spain, Latin America and South America)
| yo | hubiera |
| tú | hubieras |
| él / ella / Ud. | hubiera |
| nosotros | hubiéramos |
| vosotros | hubierais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | hubieran |
Conjugation 2 (used more in written language and in Spain)
| yo | hubiese |
| tú | hubieses |
| él / ella / Ud. | hubiese |
| nosotros | hubiésemos |
| vosotros | hubieseis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | hubiesen |
Note that in El Pretérito Imperfecto Subjuntivo, only the impersonal third person form hubiera/hubiese is ever used on its own.
Read and listen to these examples:
The full set of six forms is used with past participles of a second verb to form another tense: El Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto de Subjuntivo. For example:
Read more about El Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto de Subjuntivo.
See also:
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