If I were a man, I would think that women are complicated.Ĭaption 28, Conjugación El verbo 'pensar' Play Caption Si yo fuera un hombre, yo pensaría que las mujeres son complicadas. Let's look at another example of the subjunctive mood in Spanish: Here, the indicative present perfect form hemos podido (we've been able) has been replaced with the subjunctive present perfect, hayamos podido, because the speaker is expressing a hope that something has happened rather than stating that it actually has. We really hope that we've been able to give you back your joy.Ĭaption 58, Tu Voz Estéreo Laura - Part 17 Play Caption Let's take a look at another example:ĭe verdad, esperamos que te hayamos podido devolver la alegría.

Although we won't enter into verb conjugation in this lesson, we will say that verbs in the subjunctive mood are conjugated differently than in the indicative: for example, sea is the subjunctive conjugation of ser (to be) in third person singular and is thus used in place of the indicative form es. Just like the expression Creo que (I believe that) lets you know that the following verb will be conjugated in the indicative, the phrase No creo que (I don't believe that) is an indicator for the subjunctive. I don't think he's very dangerous,Ĭaption 55, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa Capítulo 5 - Part 8 Play Caption While the indicative conveys certainty and objectivity, the subjunctive conveys such opposing concepts as subjectivity, doubt, wishful thinking, hypothetical situations, and more. Let's take a look at some examples: For a closer look at each of these tenses with examples, we recommend this lesson on the Spanish indicative tenses. There are ten verb tenses in the Spanish indicative mood: the present, the imperfect, the preterite, the future, the simple conditional, the present perfect, the pluperfect, the past anterior, the conditional perfect, and the future perfect. Although whether or not something is easy is a subjective concept, it is important to remember that it is the speaker's attitude or belief about what he or she is stating that determines the mood. In this final example in the Spanish preterite tense, the speaker clearly states the objective truth about what happened in the past: Fuimos a buscar (We went to look for) seashells, and no fue (it wasn't) easy. Yes! We went to look for shells but it wasn't easy to find them.Ĭaption 13, Guillermina y Candelario El Manglar Play Caption

¡Sí! Fuimos a buscar conchas pero no fue fácil encontrarlas.

Let's take a look at an additional example. In this example of the future indicative tense in Spanish, the speaker states (with certainty) what it is he will talk about. However, many examples of verbs in the indicative mood in Spanish won't be quite so straightforward.Ĭaption 11, Sonido Babel El candombe de Uruguay Play Caption Such phrases referring to certainty like Estoy seguro que (I'm sure that) or even Yo creo que (I believe that) are tip-offs that the verb(s) that follow(s) will be in the indicative because they indicate conviction. This speaker says in the Spanish present indicative tense that he's seguro (sure) that he will be able to help the person to whom he's speaking. I'm sure that I am going to be able to help you with something.Ĭaption 7, Yago 9 Recuperación - Part 7 Play Caption Most simply put, the indicative mood describes facts, things about which the speaker is certain, or 'the objective truth.' Let's take a look at some examples of sentences with verbs in the indicative mood.Įstoy seguro que voy a poder ayudarla en algo. That said, let's delve deeper into the three grammatical moods in Spanish: the indicative, the subjunctive, and the imperative. 'Moods' are not the same as tenses, which convey when things happen, and each of the sixteen Spanish tenses fall into one of the three mood categories. In a nutshell, 'modality' refers to a speaker's attitude toward what he or she is saying, which might entail such concepts as possibility, probability, certainty or doubt. What are grammatical 'moods'? Many definitions of grammatical moods in linguistics explain them as features of verbs that describe 'modality.' But, what is 'modality'?

List of spanish moods