The imperfect subjunctive (or the past subjunctive,

el imperfecto de subjuntivo):

A.Forms of the imperfect subjunctive. •Take the third person plural form of the preterit (e.g., hablaron), •then drop the -on from the end, which gives you the stem (hablar-) for the imperfect subjunctive. •The endings are the same for all  verbs: -a, -as, -a, -amos, -ais, -an.

hablar

hablara

 

habláramos

hablaras hablarais

hablara hablaran

comer

comiera

 

comiéramos

comieras comierais

comiera comieran

vivir

viviera

 

viviéramos

vivieras vivierais

viviera vivieran

A.ALL verbs form the imperfect subjunctive this way, even the most irregular (but you must know and start with the third person plural of the preterit):

Infin.

 

Meaning

 

Preterit

 

Imperfect subjunctive

decir to say dijeron dijera, dijeras, dijera, dijéramos, dijerais, dijeran

estar to be estuvieron estuviera, estuvieras, estuviera, estuviéramos, etc.

hacer to make, do

hicieron hiciera, hicieras, hiciera, hiciéramos, hicierais, etc.

ir to go fueron fuera, fueras, fuera, fuéramos, fuerais, fueran

ser to be fueron fuera, fueras, fuera, fuéramos, fuerais, fueran

tener to have tuvieron tuviera, tuvieras, tuviera, tuviéramos, tuvierais, etc.

Uses of the imperfect subjunctive. The imperfect subjunctive is used in the same type of situations in which the present subjunctive is used, except that the governing verb is typically in a past tense (e.g., the preterit, imperfect, past perfect, conditional, conditional perfect, or one of the past subjunctives):

1. Noun clauses. Remember that the subjunctive is used after verbsof influence, emotion, doubt, and denial.

Contrast the use of the present tense governing verb plus present subjunctive situation

and that of a past tense governing verb and the imperfect subjunctive.

Quiero

que él lo haga.  (present subj.)

I want him to do it.

Me alegro de

I'm glad he's doing it.

Dudo I doubt he's doing it.

Niego I deny he's doing it.

Es importante

It's important for him to do it.

Quería

que lo hiciera. (imperf. subj.)

I wanted him to do it.

Me alegraba de

I was glad he did it.

Dudaba I doubted he'd do it.

Negué I denied he did it (was doing it).

Era importante

It was important for him to do it.

2. Adverbial clauses (time, purpose, etc.). Remember that the subjunctive is used when the action in the adverbial clause is viewed as anticipated or hypothetical. Again, contrast the present time and past time situations:

Lo haremos

cuando

vengan.(present)

We'll do it

when they come.

después que after they come.

mientras while they come.

Lo haríamos(or: Íbamos a hacerlo)

cuando

vinieran(imperfect)

We were going to do it

when they came.

despues que

after they came.

mientraswhile they were coming.

Lo hacemos

para que

vengan. (present)

We do it

so they will come.

sin que without them coming.

con tal que

provided they come.

Lo hicimos

para que

vinieran. (impefect)

We did it

so they'd come.

sin quewithout them coming.

con tal que

provided they'd come.

3. Adjectival clauses. Remember that the subjunctive is used when there is a negated or indefinite antecedent.

Again, contrast the present time and past time situations:

No hay nada aquí que me guste.

There's nothing here I like.

No había nada aquí que me gustara.

There was nothing there I liked.

 

Buscamos una criada que hable español.

We're looking for a maid who speaks Spanish.

Buscábamos una criada que hablara español.

We were looking for a maid who spoke Spanish.