The Imperfect Subjunctive: -ara/-ase forms

Spanish: El Pretérito Imperfecto de Subjuntivo: formas -ara/-ase

Level: B2 Upper-Intermediate

Category: subjunctive

Explanation

The imperfect subjunctive is one of the most important tenses at the advanced level. It is used to express wishes, doubts, emotions, and hypothetical situations in the past, as well as in conditional sentences like "if I had money, I would travel." A unique feature of this tense is that it has TWO valid and interchangeable forms: the -ara/-iera form and the -ase/-iese form. For example, "hablara" and "hablase" mean exactly the same thing. To form the imperfect subjunctive, we always start from the third person plural (they) of the preterite. We remove the -ron ending and add the corresponding endings. From "hablaron" we get "habla-" and form "hablara/hablase." From "comieron" we get "comie-" and form "comiera/comiese." From "vivieron" we get "vivie-" and form "viviera/viviese." The great advantage of this method is that ALL verbs that are irregular in the preterite keep their irregularity in the imperfect subjunctive. If you know that "tener" becomes "tuvieron," you automatically know that the subjunctive is "tuviera/tuviese." The same applies to "ser/ir" (fueron → fuera/fuese), "hacer" (hicieron → hiciera/hiciese), and "decir" (dijeron → dijera/dijese). The two forms (-ara/-ase) are completely interchangeable in most contexts, although the -ara/-iera form is more common in everyday speech and in Latin America, while the -ase/-iese form sounds more formal or literary. There is one special use where only the -ra form is allowed: when it replaces the conditional or the pluperfect in formal style ("quisiera pedirle un favor" - I would like to ask you a favor).

Examples

• Si tuviera mas dinero, pediria el plato mas caro del menu. - If I had more money, I would order the most expensive dish on the menu.
• El camarero queria que probaramos el vino de la casa. - The waiter wanted us to try the house wine.
• Ojala hablase espanol tan bien como tu. - I wish I spoke Spanish as well as you.
• La recepcionista me pidio que rellenara este formulario. - The receptionist asked me to fill out this form.
• Si la habitacion fuera mas grande, me quedaria una semana mas. - If the room were bigger, I would stay one more week.