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The verb temer in Spanish is often used to express a fear of something happening as well as a belief; depending on what we want to convey we will use it with the indicative or the subjunctive.
Spanish verb temer with the subjunctive
Generally, we use temer with the subjunctive to express that we are afraid a specific event will happen in a certain way. Although you can use the verb pronominally or non-pronominally here, it's a lot more common to use it as a non-pronominal verb (temer, not temerse) in this case. For example:
Temo que los albañiles no terminen la extensión a tiempo.I fear that the builders won't finish the extension on time.
The actions expressed after que are actions that might happen in the future and the subject expresses their fear of that action happening.
The equivalent and more colloquial way of saying the same would be "tener miedo de que...":
Spanish verb temer(se) with the indicative
Generally, we use temerse (a lot more commonly used pronominally) with the indicative if what we express is a belief or suspicion. It is also implicit that there is some kind of regret. Here are some examples:
Me estoy temiendo que no voy a llegar a fin de mes.I'm suspecting I won't be able to make ends meet.
This is different to the previous use of "fear" with the subjunctive because here we could easily substitute the verb temer with "I believe.../I think..." which would trigger the indicative.
The same idea is conveyed with verbs like creer o sospechar:
Note that with this same nuance we give answers like:
Look at these contrasting examples: two nearly identical sentences, one using the subjunctive and another using the indicative. Notice how they convey different ideas:
- Here she is expressing what she believes it's going to happen.
- Here she is expressing her concern and fear that, based on the circumstances (the pouring rain), as to the state in which they will arrive.
Temerse que to express an apology
Sometimes the use of me temo que is a formula used to express some kind of apology before giving some bad news, like the English use of "I'm afraid...". With this specific meaning the indicative is used.
With this last meaning the use of temer is always pronominal: me temo que...
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