Editing Subjunctive mood (section)

====Spanish====
{{Main|Subjunctive mood in Spanish}}
The subjunctive mood ({{lang|es|subjuntivo}}) is a fundamental element of Spanish. Its spoken form makes use of it to a much larger degree than other Latin languages and it is in no case homonymous to any other mood. Furthermore, it is common to find long complex sentences almost entirely in the subjunctive.

The subjunctive is used in conjunction with impersonal expressions and expressions of emotion, opinion, desire or viewpoint. More importantly, it applies to most hypothetical situations, likely or unlikely, desired or not. Normally, only certitude of (or statement of) a fact will remove the possibility of its use. Unlike French, it is also used in phrases expressing the past conditional. The negative of the imperative shares the same form with the present subjunctive.

Common introductions to the subjunctive would include the following:
* {{lang|es|que...}} or {{lang|es|de que...}} as in {{lang|es|que sea}} (present subjunctive) {{lang|es|lo que Dios quiera}} (present subjunctive): "Let it be what God wills".
* {{lang|es|Si...}}: "If.." (e.g. {{lang|es|si estuvieras}}: "if you were...")
* {{lang|es|Donde}}: "Where.." (e.g. {{lang|es|donde sea}}, "anywhere")
* {{lang|es|Cuando}}: "When.." (referring to a future time, e.g. {{lang|es|cuando vaya}}, "when I go")
* {{lang|es|Aunque}}: "Despite/although/even if..."
* {{lang|es|Ojalá...}} "I hope..." (derived from Arabic {{langx|ar|إن شاء ألله|in šāʾ ʾallāh|God willing|label=none}}) e.g. {{lang|es|Ojalá que llueva}} (present subjunctive) "I hope it rains" or {{lang|es|Ojalá que lloviera}} (past subjunctive) "I wish it would rain".

Nevertheless, the subjunctive can stand alone to supplant other tenses.

For example, "I would like" can be said in the conditional {{lang|es|Querría}} or in the past subjunctive {{lang|es|Quisiera}}, as in {{lang|es|Quisiera}} (past subjunctive) {{lang|es|que vinieras}} (past subjunctive), i.e. "I would like you to come".

Comfort with the subjunctive form and the degree to which a second-language speaker attempts to avoid its use can be an indicator of the level of proficiency in the language. Complex use of the subjunctive is a constant pattern of everyday speech among native speakers but difficult to interiorize even by relatively proficient Spanish learners (e.g. I would have liked you to come on Thursday: {{lang|es|Me habría gustado}} (conditional perfect) {{lang|es|que vinieras}} (past subjunctive) {{lang|es|el jueves.}}

An example of the subtlety of the Spanish subjunctive is the way the tense (past, present or future) modifies the expression "be it as it may" (literally "be what it be"):
* {{lang|es|Sea lo que sea}} (present subjunctive + present subjunctive): "No matter what/whatever."
* {{lang|es|Sea lo que fuera}} (present subjunctive + past subjunctive): "Whatever it were."
* {{lang|es|Fuera lo que fuera}} (past subjunctive + past subjunctive): (Similar meaning to above).
* {{lang|es|Sea lo que fuere}}. (Present subjunctive + future subjunctive): "Whatever it may be."
* {{lang|es|Fuera lo que hubiera sido}}. (Past subjunctive + past pluperfect subjunctive): "Whatever/no matter what it may have been".

The same alterations could be made to the expression {{lang|es|Sea como sea}} or "no matter how" with similar changes in meaning.

Spanish has two past subjunctive forms. They are almost identical, except that where the "first form" has {{lang|es|-ra-}}, the "second form" has {{lang|es|-se-}}. Both forms are usually interchangeable although the {{lang|es|-se-}} form may be more common in Spain than in other Spanish-speaking areas. The {{lang|es|-ra-}} forms may also be used as an alternative to the conditional in certain structures.

'''Present subjunctive'''

In Spanish, a present subjunctive form is always different from the corresponding present indicative form. For example, whereas English "that they speak" or French {{lang|fr|qu'ils parlent}} can be either indicative or subjunctive, Spanish {{lang|es|que hablen}} is unambiguously subjunctive. (The corresponding indicative would be {{lang|es|que habl<u>a</u>n}}.) The same is true for all verbs, regardless of their subject.

When to use:
* When there are two clauses, separated by {{lang|es|que}}. However, not all {{lang|es|que}} clauses require the subjunctive mood. They must have at least one of the following criteria:
* As the fourth edition of {{lang|es|Mosaicos}}{{Full citation needed|date=May 2022}} states, when the verb of the main clause expresses emotion (e.g. fear, happiness, sorrow, etc.)
* Impersonal expressions are used in the main clause. (It is important that...)
* The verb in the second clause is the one that is in subjunctive.

Examples:
* {{lang|es|Ojalá que me compren (comprar) un regalo.}} (I hope that they will buy me a gift.)
* {{lang|es|Te recomiendo que no corras (correr) con tijeras.}} (I recommend that you not run with scissors.)
* {{lang|es|Dudo que el restaurante abra (abrir) a las seis.}} (I doubt that the restaurant might open at six.)
* {{lang|es|Lo discutiremos cuando venga (venir).}} (We will talk about it when he/she comes.)
* {{lang|es|Es importante que (nosotros) hagamos ejercicio.}} (It is important that we exercise.)
* {{lang|es|Me alegro de que (tú) seas mi amiga.}} (I am happy that you are my friend.)

'''Past (imperfect) subjunctive'''

Used interchangeably, the past (imperfect) subjunctive can end either in {{lang|es|-se}} or {{lang|es|-ra}}. Both forms stem from the third-person plural (''ellos, ellas, ustedes'') of the preterite. For example, the verb {{lang|es|estar}}, when conjugated in the third-person plural of the preterite, becomes {{lang|es|estuvieron}}. Then, drop the {{lang|es|-ron}} ending, and add either {{lang|es|-se}} or {{lang|es|-ra}}. Thus, it becomes {{lang|es|estuviese}} or {{lang|es|estuviera}}. The past subjunctive may be used with "if... then" statements with the conditional mood. Example:
* {{lang|es|Si yo fuera/fuese el maestro, no mandaría demasiados deberes.}} (If I ''were'' the teacher, I would not give too much homework.)

'''Future subjunctive'''

In Spanish, the future subjunctive tense is now rare but still used in certain dialects of Spanish and in formal speech. It is usually reserved for literature, [[archaism|archaic]] phrases and expressions, and legal documents. (The form is similar to the {{lang|es|-ra}} form of the imperfect subjunctive, but with a {{lang|es|-re}} ending instead of {{lang|es|-ra}}, {{lang|es|-res}} instead of {{lang|es|-ras}} and so on.) Example:
* {{lang|es|Si así yo no lo hiciere, que Dios y la patria me lo demanden.}} (If I don't do it, may God and the fatherland demand it from me.)

Phrases expressing the subjunctive in a future period normally employ the present subjunctive. For example: "I hope that it ''will rain'' tomorrow" would simply be {{lang|es|Espero que llueva mañana}} (where {{lang|es|llueva}} is the third-person singular present subjunctive of {{lang|es|llover}}, "to rain").

'''Pluperfect (past perfect) subjunctive'''

In Spanish, the pluperfect subjunctive tense is used to describe a continuing wish in the past. {{lang|es|Desearía que (tú) hubieras ido al cine conmigo el viernes pasado.}} (I wish that you had gone to the movies with me last Friday). To form this tense, first the subjunctive form of {{lang|es|haber}} is conjugated (in the example above, {{lang|es|haber}} becomes {{lang|es|hubieras}}). Then the participle of the main verb (in this case is added, {{lang|es|ir}} becomes {{lang|es|ido}}).
* {{lang|es|Me gustaría que 'hubieras ido'/'hubieses ido', pero él suspendió su examen de matemáticas.}} (I would have liked if you ''had gone'', but he failed his math test.)

Though the {{lang|es|-re}} form appears to be more closely related to the imperfect subjunctive {{lang|es|-ra}} form than the {{lang|es|-se}} form, that is not the case. The {{lang|es|-se}} form of the imperfect subjunctive derives from the pluperfect subjunctive of Vulgar Latin and the {{lang|es|-ra}} from the pluperfect indicative, combining to overtake the previous pluperfect subjunctive ending. The {{lang|es|-re}} form is more complicated, stemming (so to speak) from a fusion of the perfect subjunctive and future perfect indicative—which, though in different moods, happened to be identical in the second and third persons—before losing the perfect in the shift to future subjunctive, the same perfect nature that was the only thing the forms originally shared. So the {{lang|es|-ra}} and {{lang|es|-se}} forms always had a past (to be specific, pluperfect) meaning, but only the {{lang|es|-se}} form always belonged with the subjunctive mood that the {{lang|es|-re}} form had since its emergence.<ref name="Wright1931">{{cite journal |first=Leavitt O. |last=Wright |title=The Disappearing Spanish Verb Form in ''-re'' |journal=Hispania |volume=14 |issue=2 |date=1931 |pages=107–114 |publisher=American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese |doi=10.2307/332496 |issn=0018-2133 |jstor=332496 |oclc=5552696109 }}</ref>