When giving advice in Spanish, the subjunctive mood plays a crucial role. It's used to express opinions, emotions, and uncertainty in suggestions. Common phrases like "Es importante que" trigger the subjunctive, adding a layer of subjectivity to your advice.
The subjunctive contrasts with the indicative mood, which expresses facts and certainty. Forming the present subjunctive involves changing verb endings based on specific rules. This grammatical nuance allows for more nuanced and less direct advice-giving in Spanish conversations.
Subjunctive Mood for Advice
Situations Requiring Subjunctive for Advice
- Express opinions, emotions, doubts, and uncertainty when giving advice or making suggestions
- Used after common expressions that trigger subjunctive mood for advice
- "Es importante que" (It's important that)
- "Es necesario que" (It's necessary that)
- "Es mejor que" (It's better that)
- "Es aconsejable que" (It's advisable that)
- Used after impersonal expressions when offering advice or opinions
- "Es bueno que" (It's good that)
- "Es malo que" (It's bad that)
Subjunctive vs Indicative in Advice
- Indicative mood expresses facts, certainty, and objective reality
- Subjunctive mood expresses doubt, desire, emotion, or subjectivity
- Main clause often contains an expression of opinion or suggestion (indicative mood)
- Dependent clause uses subjunctive mood to express the action or state being advised
- "Creo que debes estudiar más" (I think you should study more) uses indicative mood in main clause (creo) and infinitive (estudiar) in dependent clause, expressing a more direct and certain piece of advice
- "Es importante que estudies más" (It's important that you study more) uses subjunctive mood (estudies) in dependent clause, conveying a more subjective and less certain suggestion
Constructing Subjunctive Sentences
Forming Present Subjunctive
- Take the yo form of the present indicative, drop the -o ending, and add appropriate subjunctive ending based on subject pronoun and verb conjugation
- -ar verbs: -e, -es, -e, -emos, -éis, -en
- -er and -ir verbs: -a, -as, -a, -amos, -áis, -an
- Irregular verbs in present subjunctive
- ser (sea)
- estar (esté)
- ir (vaya)
- saber (sepa)
- dar (dé)
- haber (haya)
Examples of Subjunctive for Advice
- "Te sugiero que estudies más" (I suggest that you study more)
- "Es importante que practiques cada día" (It's important that you practice every day)
- "Es mejor que no salgas tan tarde" (It's better that you don't go out so late)
- In these examples, subjunctive verb forms (estudies, practiques, salgas) are used in dependent clause following the expression of advice or suggestion
Subjunctive Verb Forms for Advice
Subject-Verb Agreement in Subjunctive
- Subjunctive verb form must agree with subject of dependent clause, not subject of main clause
- "Es necesario que (yo) hable con el profesor" (It's necessary that I speak with the professor) uses yo form of subjunctive (hable) to agree with implied subject "yo" in dependent clause
- When subject of main clause and dependent clause are the same, infinitive is used instead of subjunctive
- "Es mejor no salir tan tarde" (It's better not to go out so late) uses infinitive (salir) because implied subject of both clauses is the same
Negative Main Clauses and Subjunctive
- If main clause is negative, dependent clause still uses subjunctive mood
- "No es bueno que comas tanta azúcar" (It's not good that you eat so much sugar) uses subjunctive (comas) in dependent clause despite negative main clause