| Welcome
to Vol. 44 of the Spanish Online Newsletter! Your weekly Spanish
learning with mp3 files, as well as links to Spanish travel places
and more. I've had quite a few requests lately for language learning
travel opportunities, and I'm thinking of organizing a Spanish teaching
trip to a fun place like Puerto Vallarta or a Mexican colonial city
such as San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, or Zacatecas. It's still
in the early planning stages, but the idea is that there would be
no more than 10 to 12 people per group, and it would be guided by
myself and a friend here in Seattle who runs a multilingual bookstore
& Spanish publishing company. We've been brainstorming about
how to integrate language learning with a great vacation, and would
like some feedback by anyone who might be interested in such a trip.
I've put together a short poll here
(you can also click the button below). If you have any questions
you can just hit the "reply" button and email me directly
from your newsletter, or if reading online you can click
here to send me a note.
This week
we tackle a slightly more intermediate grammar concept: using the
subjunctive. While this can be one of the most challenging elements
for gringos to overcome, it is essential to truly speaking Spanish
like a native. ¡Vamos a conquistar el subjuntivo!
A Mood as
Well as a Tense...Subjunctive Verbs
When talking about something
that might or might not happen, a special tense called the subjunctive
is often used. It’s not just a verb tense —it’s
a MOOD—throwing
some emotion or opinion into the sentence. Using the subjunctive
can be tricky for English speakers, so the key is to remember it
as the emotional, doubtful, hopeful MOOD. Things that MAY
or MAY NOT happen —often opinions or wishes rather than hard
facts.
| |
regular
subjunctive patterns - present tense
|
| |
AR
» e
hable
hables
hable
hablemos
hablen
|
ER
» a
venda
vendas
venda
vendamos
vendan |
IR
» a
escriba
escribas
escriba
escribamos
escriban
|
One good clue that the
subjunctive might be used is when you see the word “QUE ”before
a conjugated verb. Be careful, because regular verbs are also used
after “QUE,” but most cases of subjunctive have “QUE
”before them. Pay attention to the following types of MOODS:
Worksheet:
Subjunctive Verbs
Quiz:
El subjuntivo en
español
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