Share wishes and requests with loved ones

You already know the forms no hables, no hagas, no vayas (unit 16) and the polite tome, abra (A2, unit 15). All of them are forms of the subjunctive. Now let's see what it's for and what it looks like in full.

The normal form (indicative) states a fact: Vienes mañana — "You're coming tomorrow." The subjunctive doesn't state a fact. It names an action that isn't real yet: someone only wants it, hopes for it or asks for it. Quiero que vengas mañana — I want you to come tomorrow. Will you come or not? We don't know.

English has only traces of this ("I suggest that he be on time"). Spanish has a full set of separate forms, and uses them a lot.

How it's formed — the same way as negative commands (unit 16): take the yo form of the present tense and switch the vowel of the ending: -ar verbs get e, -er and -ir verbs get a. What's new is the forms for all six persons.

The yo form and the él / ella form are the same: the conversation shows who is meant.

An irregular yo form stays irregular in all persons: tengo → tenga, tengamos, digo → diga, conozco → conozca. The stem changes the same way as in the present tense: pueda, quiera, but podamos, queramos. -ir verbs have a special nosotros form: durmamos, pidamos.

Six verbs to learn separately: ser → sea, estar → esté, ir → vaya, dar → dé, saber → sepa, haber → haya (so hay becomes haya: "there is / there are").

• Espero que tengas tiempo. — I hope you have time.
• Quiero que seas feliz. — I want you to be happy.
• Ojalá haya entradas. — Hopefully there are tickets.

Saying what you want from someone else and what you hope for is the main job of the subjunctive. Before you build the sentence, ask yourself one question: who wants it and who does it — the same person or two different people?

English makes the same split: "I want to go" and "I want you to go". Spanish uses que + subjunctive for the second one.

The three main words for wishes work like this:

• querer que — to want someone to do something. Quiero que me digas la verdad. — I want you to tell me the truth. No quiero que te preocupes. — I don't want you to worry.
• esperar que — to hope (that). Espero que estés bien. — I hope you're well. Compare: Espero encontrar piso pronto. — I hope to find an apartment soon (I'm the one looking, so it's the infinitive).
• ojalá — hopefully, I hope, if only. Ojalá no llueva el sábado. — Hopefully it won't rain on Saturday. This word never changes, and you don't say who is hoping. The verb after it is always in the subjunctive.

A short wish: the espero is simply left out, and the wish starts with que.

• que + subjunctive: ¡Que tengas un buen día! — Have a good day! ¡Que descanses! — Rest well!

The phrases you already know, ¡Que aproveche! and ¡Que te mejores!, are built the same way.

Common mistakes:

• the normal form after que: ✗ quiero que vienes — correct: quiero que vengas;
• a past form: ✗ quiero que viniste — the wish is about the future, so: quiero que vengas;
• que when there's only one person: ✗ quiero que yo vaya — correct: quiero ir.

You already know the verbs pedir, aconsejar and recomendar, and so far you've used them the short way: te aconsejo ir. Now comes the full form, with que.

A request or a piece of advice is also a wish: I want someone else to do something. That's why the subjunctive follows pedir que (to ask), aconsejar que (to advise), recomendar que (to recommend) and rogar que (to beg, to ask very strongly).

The person you ask is a pronoun before the first verb (te, le, nos). What they should do comes after que:

• Te pido que me escuches. — I'm asking you to listen to me.
• Te pido que no le digas nada a Lucía. — I'm asking you not to say anything to Lucía.
• Te aconsejo que hables con tu jefa. — I advise you to talk to your boss.
• El médico me aconseja que duerma más. — The doctor advises me to sleep more.
• Le ruego que me llame mañana. — I kindly ask you to call me tomorrow (formal).

Compare with English. English uses the infinitive in both cases: "I'm asking you to come" and "I'm asking to speak to the manager". Spanish doesn't. With pedir, when someone else does the action, you need que + subjunctive: te pido que vengas. The phrase pido hablar con el encargado means "I'm asking to speak to the manager": I'm the one who will speak, there's only one person, so it's the infinitive.

With aconsejar and recomendar, both ways are possible and mean the same thing: te aconsejo ir = te aconsejo que vayas.

Common mistake — the normal form after que: ✗ te pido que vienes — correct: te pido que vengas; ✗ te aconsejo que hablas — correct: te aconsejo que hables.