Spanish Grammar Guide

Imperfect Subjunctive (e.g.: Querían que yo hablara)

In this section: Description, Questions, Exercises

Questions

Questions about the Imperfect Subjunctive

 Q:  Why is it Quería que tú dijeras and NOT Quería que tú decieras?

Remember, the stem is always based on the preterite form of the 3rd person plural, after removing the -ron ending. Since the 3rd person preterite of decir is ellos dijeron, the stem for the subjunctive is dije-.

Q: Why is it ... después que lo hizo and NOT ... después que lo hiciera?

The expression después que is followed by the indicative, while antes que is followed by the subjunctive. This makes sense because we can be more certain about events after they happen than before. With después que, it is implied the event occurred, so the indicative is required.

Q: Why is it creía que venía and NOT creía que viniera?

The verb creer is followed by the indicative in affirmative (positive) sentences, but followed by the subjunctive in negative ones (the idea being that there is less certainly in the latter case), e.g.: No creía que viniera.

 Q: Why is it nopensaba que lo supiera and NOT no pensaba que lo sabía?

The verb pensar is followed by the subjunctive in negative sentence and by the indicative in affirmative (positive) ones (the idea being that there is certainly/assertion, rather than doubt, in the positive case), e.g.: Pensaba que lo sabía.

In this section: Description, Questions, Exercises

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