Well this is my first week with this even though I have studied Spanish for almost 2 years.

It seems very complicated to me and I was wondering if anyone had any tips or patterns that might make learning it all a little easier?

Thanks!

2-years studying a second language is nothing! Total immersion for about that length of time might help somewhat.

Ojala! Si yo tuviera corazon ...

It is difficult for english-speaking people to learn the tenses. Keep on studying!

Subjunctive is not one of the most common tenses in spanish. It is usually used in conditional sentences as english subjunctive. For example:

If I had a job, I could buy a car. (Si tuviera...)
I would have bought a car if I have had money at the time. (Hubiera comprado un coche si hubiera tenido dinero en ese momento).
If I were you I will buy the damned car! (¡Si yo fuera tú compraría el maldito coche!)

You see, easy to use, hard to learn

Fernando

Imajica, great question, and there are no really simple answers either. I learned the basic subjunctive "rules" and through trial and error, or in other words, lots of practice, became proficient(or, somewhat proficient). Do you have any Spanish speaking friends that you could practice with? That is what I would recommend. Or watch Spanish TV,movies and see how often and when they use subjunctive. I am not a teacher,but when I moved went to Spain, I didn't know any Spanish, but when I moved back to the US after two years I was fluent. Force yourself to speak and listen to Spanish. You'll be amazed how at how much you'll learn.

Sorry, fernando, that's incorrect:

"Hubiera comprado un coche si hubiera tenido dinero en ese momento"

The right way would be " Habría comprado un coche si hubiera tenido dinero en ese momento"

You cannot repeat the "-era" form of subjuntive twice, if you need to do it, then the first one changes to "-ía".

Right!

I wonder if someone could translate the following into Spanish for me:

"He ran round the corner and disappeared from view."

Thanks!

Thank you all for your answers.

I have always spoken gramatically correct English just because that is how I was raised, but I was never really taught WHY it was correct. This has added to the challenge of learning Spanish. In the fall, I have my first class taught entirely en español which both excites me and scares the heck out of me too. But I have always enjoyed learning about Spanish culture and the language so it rarely seems like "studying" to learn the language. I enjoy watching movies and TV in Spanish, even though I wish I could learn faster.

As far as the subjunctive goes, it isn't as easy as the nosotros commands, but I'll make it through...

I agree though, that only an extended amount of time there will make me fluent.

Be patient Imajica1975!

Bricamb:
"He ran round the corner and disappeared from view."

"Dobló la esquina corriendo y despareció de la vista."

Fernando

It's only an oppinion but, I think that spaniards tend not to realize how frequently we use the use the subjuctive in Spain.

I think that the use of subjunctive in spain is by far more intensive than in italian and of course than in french.

As far as the subjunctive...well, let's see...the French avoid it like the plague; the Spanairds embrace it like a lover; and the Italians?...well, they flip a coin to decide if they will use it or not (they don't use it all that much for the present tense...but will use it for the "contrary to fact" clauses...let's not even think about the imperfect subjunctive...)

Sheryl

I'm wonder....if, when the Italians flip a coin about whether or not to use the subjunctive and decide that they need to use it, do they go best two out of three?

Thank you Fernando! I'd been racking my brains trying to think of how to say that in Spanish.

Imajica1975,

just be thankful that you are not having to use ancient Greek or Latin where nouns, definite and indefinite articles, names, and numbers change tense too!

ancient Greek has some 14 declensions, 6 of which are subjunctive... ostias!

anyway, you will do fine with Spanish subjunctive. just practice by studying the rules for when you use it. they are pretty darn applicable, and you'll rarely find a case where they don't apply.

*book tip!* -- \'Spanish Verb Drills\'
by far the best workbook for learning and *mastering* the Spanish verb system. yeah, i was one of those geeks that studied this thing inside and out and it *helps.* i still have a copy of it that i never used, *and* i bought the 'French Verb Drills,' which i threw away, and the 'Italian Verb Drills,' which i still refer too.

Is this definitely true? My professor at my college definitely told me that the conditional verb (the one with 'si') must be in subjunctive for impossible or hypothetical cases, but that the 'result verb' (for want of a better name) could be in the subjunctive or conditional tense interchangeably.

So:

Si tuviera un montón de dinero, no trabajara.

and:

Si tuviera un montón de dinero, no trabajaría.

Are interchangeable. But the first verb (tuviera) must always be subjunctive, since clearly no lo tengo

Anyone?

I´m going with Ignacio on this one. I was always taught that you can´t repeat the -era form of the subjunctive.

By the way, if anyone´s still having in trouble learning the subjunctive tense, (it´s sooo confusing at first, but then it becomes surprisingly natural), I´d like to share a little trick one of my professors taught me:
Just remember ´WEIRDO´to determine when to use subjunctive.

W- Wants, wishes
E- Emotions? (not positive about that one)
I- Impersonal statements
R- Requests, recommendations
D- Doubts, denial
O- Ojalá

Ex: !Ojalá que yo tuviera mucho dinero!

I think that all of those words in the acronym are correct; it´s been a while since I´ve used it! The thing that I always remember if I´m in doubt is that you use the subjunctive tense if you´re wanting to convey any sense of uncertainty or denial about something. Of course there are exceptions, but that´s just a general rule.

Lemming, that's wrong. Does he teach Spanish?

The 'result verb' in that case must always be in the conditional tense:

Si tuviera/tuviese un montón de dinero, no trabajaría.

There are no more tenses you can use (with the same meaning, of course).

You will never hear "Si tuviera un montón de dinero, no trabajara". That sounds really awful.
A common error in some regions is to use the conditional tense twice: "Si tendría un montón de dinero, no trabajaría". Yoy may hear that, but it's a mistake. However, you will never see it the way your professor says. Believe me, never.

Here you have some correspondences:

Si tengo dinero, no trabajo.
If I have money, I don't work.

Si tuviera/tuviese(pick 1) dinero, no trabajaría.
If I had money, I wouldn't work.

Si hubiera/hubiese tenido dinero, no habría trabajado.
If I had had money, I wouldn't have worked.

Hope that helps!
I think the conditional structure is quite similar.

Salu2!

The one I offered, I am positive it's the correct in spaniards´ spanish, and i am pretty sure it's also in other spanish varieties.

However, I think I have heard some latino friend talk like that very scarcely. But I believe he was wrong even with his own countries particularities.

There is a time that the imperfect subjunctive may be used in place of the conditional...but not in contrary to fact clauses (si yo pudiese, haría...). The time?...in polite, and I underline the word polite, discorse, and it is used with the verbs "poder, deber, and querer."

For example, if you were to meet the parents of an associate and wanted to be super polite , then instead of the conditional tense, which by definition is polite, you could use the imperfect subjunctive.

How? Well, instead of saying "qué querría Vd. tomar?, you could say "¿qué quisiera Vd. tomar?

But, you can't use the imperfect subjunctive as a resultant clause in a contrary to fact clause (ie: if this were the RomeMan home page, we would see info regarding Rome...this is the Madridman page, therefore, the RomeMan page is contrary to the established fact).

Hope this helps.
Sheryl

Cada día, una cosa nueva. I'll have to check my notes on that one. Thanks folks!