Conjugate verbs in El Imperfecto de Subjuntivo

2020-05-22

We use El Imperfecto Subjuntivo in some subordinate clauses and in particularly polite requests.

Rather unusually, this tense has two conjugation forms. Take a look at these regular verb conjugations:

Conjugation 1

	ESTUDIAR to study	COMER to eat	VIVIR to live
yo	estudiara	comiera	viviera
tú	estudiaras	comieras	vivieras
él / ella / usted	estudiara	comiera	viviera
nosotros / nosotras	estudiáramos	comiéramos	viviéramos
vosotros / vosotras	estudiarais	comierais	vivierais
ellos / ellas / ustedes	estudiaran	comieran	vivieran

Conjugation 2

	ESTUDIAR to study	COMER to eat	VIVIR to live
yo	estudiase	comiese	viviese
tú	estudiases	comieses	vivieses
él / ella / usted	estudiase	comiese	viviese
nosotros / nosotras	estudiásemos	comiésemos	viviésemos
vosotros / vosotras	estudiaseis	comieseis	vivieseis
ellos / ellas / ustedes	estudiasen	comiesen	viviesen

To conjugate ALL verbs in El Imperfecto Subjuntivo, you use the stem of the 3^rd person plural (ellos, ellas) of El Pretérito Indefinido (without the -ron ending), to which you add the following endings:

1- Pretérito Indefinido stem + -ra, -ras, -ra, -ramos, -rais, -ran

2- Pretérito Indefinido stem + -se, -ses, -se, -semos, -seis, -sen

ATTENTION:

All verbs that are irregular in the 3rd person of El Pretérito Indefinido are also irregular in El Imperfecto Subjuntivo:

Ojalá yo fuera una estrella de rock.I wish I were a rock star.

Ojalá yo fuese una estrella de rock.I wish I were a rock star.

Ojalá tú estuvieses aquí.I wish you were here.

Tal vez él viviera en Isla Margarita.Maybe he lived on Isla Margarita.

Ella dudaba mucho que él dijera que sí.She very much doubted that he would say yes.

Tal vez ella dijese la verdad.Maybe she told the truth.

El banco nos dijo que firmáramos los documentos.The bank told us to sign the documents.

Tal vez vosotros pudierais hacer mejor el ejercicio. Maybe you all could do the exercise better.

No creo que aparcaran en el centro.I don't think they parked in the centre.

Note that both the conjugations ending in -ra (conjugation 1) and in -se (conjugation 2) are used equally in Spain, but in Latin America the -ra (conjugation 1) form is more frequent in particular in the spoken language.

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Examples and resources

Ojalá tú estuvieses aquí.I wish you were here.

Si viajara a Estados Unidos, visitaría Hollywood.If I travelled to the United States, I would visit Hollywood.

Ojalá tú estuvieras aquí.I wish you were here.

Ojalá ellos fueran al concierto de Beyoncé.Maybe they went to the Beyoncé concert.

Ojalá nosotros viniésemos el año que viene.I wish we could come next year.

Yo esperaba que ella hablara con sus padres pronto.I was hoping that she spoke with her parents soon.

Nos gustaría que empezaras a trabajar con nosotros.We would like you to start working with us.

Tal vez vosotros pudierais hacer mejor el ejercicio. Maybe you all could do the exercise better.

No creo que aparcaran en el centro.I don't think they parked in the centre.

Sería bueno que bajaran los precios.It would be good if they lowered the prices.

Es imposible que llegase a tiempo.It is impossible that he arrived on time.