We are going to continue talking about the Spanish Subjunctive to get to know other uses of this verbal mood. If you feel lost in your path of learning Subjunctive, take a look at our video series about the Spanish Subjunctive, where we take you through the topic step by step.
Uses of Spanish Subjunctive (2) – Phrases with two subjects
We always use subjunctive in phrases with two subjects. Generally, these phrases follow the sequence: Verb 1 + QUE + Verb 2 (in Subjunctive).
Look at the following examples:
In this phrase we can see that we have the first subject of the phrase “yo,” the conection with “que” and the second subject of the phrase “tu” with the verb in subjunctive: compres (2nd person singular of the present subjunctive of the verb comprar).
Equally in this situation, we see how we find the first subject of the phrase, Raquel, with her corresponding verb in indicative, which connects both subjects and a second subject with its’ corrosponding verb in subjunctive: digan (3rd person plural of the present subjunctive of the verb decir).
It’s the same in this third example, where we see a first suject “los estudiantes,” a connection in the middle with “que” and a second subject “el examen” with the subjunctive verb: sea (3rd person singular of the present subjunctive of the verb ser).
Other examples:
Mario no quiere que tú le compres un regalo – Mario doesn’t want you to buy a gift
Mis amigos prefieren que yo no les llame tan tarde – My friends prefer I don’t call them late
Yo siento mucho que ellos no puedan venir a mi fiesta – I’m sorry that they can’t come to my party
Review: We use the subjunctive in a few subordinate phrases (with a QUE) to express the acction of the second subject of the phrase.