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Grammar Summary

Spanish-2 Unidad 4 Etapa 1

The Subjunctive to Express Hopes and Wishes

In the last unit, you learned to use the subjunctive to express an impersonal opinion, with such phrases as "it's better that..." or "it's good that..." followed by a verb phrase in the subjunctive mood.  The subjunctive also follows phrases that express hope or desire, such as:

Insisto en que hables español I insist (that) you speak Spanish
Ojalá que hables español Hopefully you speak Spanish
Sugiero que hables español I suggest (that) you speak Spanish
Deseo que hables español I desire (that) you speak Spanish
Espero que hables español I hope (that) you speak Spanish
Necesito que hables español I need you to speak Spanish
Prefiero que hables español I prefer (that) you speak Spanish
Yo quiero que hables español I want you to speak Spanish

Irregular Subjunctive Verbs

The verbs below have irregular subjunctive forms:

dar estar ir saber ser
dé esté vaya sepa sea
des estés vayas sepas seas
dé esté vaya sepa sea
demos estemos vayamos sepamos seamos
deis estéis vayáis sepáis seáis
den estén vayan sepan sean

The only other irregular subjunctive verb is haber.   The present subjunctive hay becomes haya, as in "Espero que haya tiempo para descansar."