Imperfect subjunctive past tense: when to use?

O past tense imperfect of subjunctiveis a tense with different functions in the Spanish language. Can be used to express actions of hypothetical or uncertain realization in the past, present or future in relation to the moment in which one speaks, in courtesy, exclamatory phrases and in prayers reduplicatives.

It is also the single tense with two endings: -ha (hablara, eat, live) what if (hablase, comiese, viviese). Adoption in one form or another depends on the country or region. According to the Real Academia Española, there is a preference for the ending -ranas Américas, although there are records of -sin the written language. In turn, European Spanish freely alternates the two forms.

For Portuguese speakers, learning this verb tense can generate a bit of confusion, as the ending -ra resembles the more than perfect past tense of the Portuguese indicative (cantara). As we will see later, these two tenses are correlated, but the translation is not equivalent.

Read too: Subjunctive present in Spanish

Summary of past tense imperfect of subjunctive

• The past tense imperfect of subjunctive has two endings: -ra (hablara) what if (hablase).

• It is used to express actions of hypothetical or uncertain realization in the past, present or future. in relation to the moment in which one speaks, in polite and exclamatory phrases and in prayers reduplicatives.

• It should not be confused with the more-than-perfect past tense of the Portuguese language code.

Regular and irregular verbs

To form the past tense imperfect of subjunctive, we can follow a simple rule: we take the 3^The plural person of indefinite past tenseindicatively (hellos) — both regular and irregular — and we exchange the ending -ron for the past tense endings subjunctive imperfect, which are the same for all verbs. That means that every irregular verb in indefinite past tense it will also be in the subjunctive imperfect.

We will conjugate, as examples of regular verbs, love, eat and move up:

PRONOMBRE	LOVE	EAT	MOVE UP
yo	lovefrog / loveif	withwow / withiesis	subwow / subiesis
you / you	loveat / loveifs	withdays / withyeses	subdays / subyeses
he / she / usted	lovefrog / loveif	withwow / withiesis	subwow / subiesis
nosotras	amárloves / amásemos	withiébranches / withiéwithout the	subiébranches / subiéwithout the
you	loverais / lovesix	withgenerals / withyesis	subgenerals / subyesis
ellos / ellas / ustedes	loveran / lovesen	withiran / withyesen	subiran / subyesen

OJO!

• TO 1^The and at 3^The singular person have the same shape.

• The endings of 2^The and 3^The conjugations are the same.

• The verbs in 1^The plural person (nosotras) are proparoxytone words (spooks) and are therefore accentuated.

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Now let's look at some examples of irregular verbs. Let's start with the verbs to be and go, which have the same shape. at 3^The person of the plural of the indefinite past tense, its conjugation is fueron. We removed the -ronfinal and added the endings of the subjunctive imperfect:

PRONOMBRE	BE / GO
yo	fuera / fuese
you / you	fueras / fueses
he / she / usted	fuera / fuese
nosotras	fuéramos / fuésemos
you	Fuerals/Fuels
ellos / ellas / ustedes	fueran / fuesen

• Verbs with own irregularity

Here, we present a list with the roots of the most common irregular verbs in Spanish:

know — sup

power — pud

poner — pus

haber — hub

fit — cup

tener — tuv

be — study

walk — anduv

decide — say

to bring — costume

want - wanted

come — come

do — hic

conduct — conduct

PRONOMBRE	FLOOR	TENER	DECIDE
yo	Anduviera / Anduviese	tuviera / tuviese	dijera / dijese
you / you	Anduvieras / Anduviese	tuvieras / tuvies	dijeras / dijeses
he / she / usted	Anduviera / Anduviese	tuviera / tuviese	dijera / dijese
nosotras	anduviéramos / anduviésemos	tuviéramos / tuviésemos	dijéramos / dijésemos
you	anduvierais / anduvieseis	tuvierais / tuvieseis	dijerais / dijeseis
ellos / ellas / ustedes	Anduvieran / Anduviesen	tuvieran / tuviesen	dijeran / dijesen

OJO! The verbs decide — and its variants (predeceive) —, to bring (bring) and those ending in -ducir lose the vowel -i- of the ending.

• Verbs with vowel change

There can be three types of vowel change:

• o > u: to die, to sleep;

• and > i: ask, feel, mourn;

• verbs with two vowels in a row — the second vowel is converted to -y-: read, huir (to run away), hi (hear), believe (believe, believe).

PRONOMBRE	TO SLEEP	TO SENSE	READ
yo	sleep / sleep	sintiera / sintiese	leyera / leyese
you / you	sleepers / sleepers	sintieras / syntieses	leyeras / leyeses
he / she / usted	sleep / sleep	sintiera / sintiese	leyera / leyese
nosotras	sleep / sleep	syntiéramos / syntiésemos	leyéramos / leyésemos
you	sleeper / sleeper	synthetic / synthetic	leyerais / leyeseis
ellos / ellas / ustedes	durmieran / durmiesen	sintieran / sintiesen	leyeran / leyesen

Uses of pastsubjunctive imperfect

a) Express past, present or future actions of uncertain or hypothetical realization in relation to the moment of speech:

Yes it is play la loteria, would buy me a yacht.
(If I win in the lottery, I would buy a yacht.)

I wish that hubiesen come to visit me.
(I wanted who had come to visit me.)

I would love that futures a mi fiesta de cumpleaños.
(I would love you was to my birthday party.)

b) Courtesy sentences. In these sentences, the translation is made with the imperfect tense of the indicative or with the future of the past tense in Portuguese:

I wish see some pants.
(I wanted see some pants.)

pudiera accompany her to her house.
(Me could accompany her/him to your home.)

c) Exclamatory or desiderative phrases - those that express wishes or desires:

Hello pudiera Get home early today
(who me gave get home early today!)

¡you will come como sing bien mi hermana!
(If you saw how well my sister sings!)

d) Reduplicative clauses - those that repeat the verb in order to emphasize the expressed action:

Where do you go, We would accompany you.
(wherever you went, we would accompany you.)

They said what they said, she would leave that country.
(No matter what they said / No matter what they said, she would leave that country.)

Important notes

a) We must not confuse the past tense imperfect of subjunctive (will love) with the more-than-perfect past tense of the Portuguese language (amara). Although they coincide in structure, the uses and translations are completely different. Watch:

If el loved me, he would be here with me. — Spanish
(If he loved me, he would be here with me.) —English

He had loved her with all his strength. - Portuguese
She had been loved with all his strengths. - Spanish

b) The form -ra proceeds from the pluscuamperfecto from the Latin indicative: loved > loved. In turn, the form comes from the pluscuamperfecto from the Latin subjunctive: love > love. These forms are equivalent, except in the following cases:

• When verbs ending in -ra alternate with non-conditional verbs:

This is a film that doesn't I would like / I would like lose me.
(This is a movie I didn't want to miss.)

This is a film that doesn't kinesis* lose me.
(nonexistent phrase in Spanish)

• In courtesy phrases:

Wanted / Wanted hablar con ustedes.
(I wanted to talk to you.)

wanted* hablar con ustedes.
(nonexistent phrase in Spanish)

• In situations where the form -ra is equivalent to pluscuamperfecto of callsign.

Let's talk about el mate, that fuera (had been) the traditional drink of the guaraníes.
(Let's talk about the mate, which was / had been the traditional drink of the guaraníes.)

Let's talk about el mate, that fuese* the traditional drink of the guaraníes.
(nonexistent phrase in Spanish)

Read too: Defective verbs in Spanish

Exercises solved on past tense imperfect of subjunctive

question 1

Complete the sentences with the imperfect past tense of the subjunctive of the verbs in parentheses.

a) If __________ (tener, nosotros) time, we could go to the cinema on Saturday.

b) If __________ (power, you), we would order the workshop.

c) Ojalá _________ (be) Sunday, yo would go to the shopping center.

d) Alejandra did not want Miguel la __________ (llamar, ella).

e) Good afternoon, ___________ (want, yo) try on the dress of the showcase.

Response

a) tuviéramos / tuviésemos

b) pudieras / pudieses

c) fuera / fuese

d) llamara / llamase

e) wanted. (As this is a courtesy formula, it is not possible to alternate with the form kiess.)

question 2

(Unievangelical 2018)

Available in:. Accessed on: 17 Aug. 2017.

The phrase from the Argentinean movement Acción Poética, painted on a city wall, highlights

a) a duda

b) one row

c) a wish

d) a protest

Response

the interjection hello is used with the subjunctive imperfect in desiderative phrases, that is, expressing desires or wishes. So the correct answer is the letter C.

By Renata Martins Gornattes
Spanish teacher