48. The Past Subjunctive / El imperfecto del subjuntivo
| preterite | -ra: PAST (IMPERFECT) SUBJUNCTIVE | |
|---|---|---|
| soñar ver oír |
ellos soñar ellos vier ellos oyer |
soñara soñaras soñara
soñáramos soñarais soñaran viera vieras viera viéramos vierais vieran oyera oyeras oyera oyéramos oyerais oyeran |
The past subjunctive of all verbs is formed by changing the ending of the third person plural (ellos) of the preterite from -ron to –ra. Note that the nosotros form gets an accent mark.
Since the third person of the preterite of -ir stem-changing verbs has a stem change, all forms of the past subjunctive have this change: durmiera, sintieras, pidiéramos, etc.
Past subjunctive forms ending in -se exist, but are not frequently used (change -ron to -se: soñase, viese, oyese, durmiese).
The imperfect subjunctive is used in subordinate clauses referring to past events in the cases mentioned previously (§46, 47):
| Influence (indirect commands): |
Me pidió que fuera a visitarlo. He asked me to go visit him. |
| Emotion (subjective attitude): |
Nos gustaba que viniera. We liked that he would come. |
| Doubt or denial: | No es que estuviera triste. It's not that I was sad. |
| Uncertain antecedent: | Quería un libro que le ayudara. He wanted a book to help him. |
Following ojalá, the past subjunctive signals a hypothetical situation contrary to current facts:
Ojalá (que) tuviera un millón de dólares. I wish I had a million dollars.
Similar conjectures introduced with "It would be..." may use the past subjunctive:
| Sería bueno que llegaras a tiempo. Sería deseable que evitaran la inflación. |
It would be good for you to arrive on time. It would be desirable if they could avoid inflation. |
PRÁCTICA 48A. Termine las oraciones de manera lógica. No todas requieren el subjuntivo.
|
1. La gente quería un gobierno que... 2. Sugirieron que... 3. Los senadores dijeron que... 4. A mis padres les gustaba que... 5. Buscaba desesperadamente personas que... |
6. A mis amiguitos les sorprendía que... 7. Ojalá... 8. Sería deseable que... 9. Nos parecía raro que... 10. Las noticias informaron que... |
PRÁCTICA 48B. Exprese en español:
|
1. It's not that he didn’t have any options. 2. It would be convenient for us to live here. 3. It would be wonderful if you could go away. |
4. It's not that fighting solved anything. 5. I wish we could live without eating. 6. I wish everybody understood me. |
V |
|
1. No es que no tuviera opciones. 2. Sería conveniente que viviéramos aquí. 3. Sería maravilloso que pudieras irte (que te pudieras ir). |
4. No es que luchar resolviera nada. 5. Ojalá pudiéramos vivir sin comer. 6. Ojalá todo el mundo me entendiera. |