Pitman's Commercial Spanish Grammar (2nd ed.)

by C. A. Toledano

GENERAL RULE.

The Subjunctive Mood can only be used in dependent clauses, as—

Yo quiero que él venga: I wish him to come.
Yo quiero que él vaya: I wish him to go.

And then, only when, by reason of what precedes in the Principal Clause, the action of the Subordinate verb is not expressed in a positive manner (i.e., as a fact) but as merely contingent (i.e., only conceived in the mind), as—

Yo declare que él vino (or vendría): I say that he came or that he would come. Yo espero que él venga: I hope that he may come. Yo esperaba que él viniese: I hoped that he might, or would come.

SPECIAL RULES.

I. A verb in a dependent clause is placed (generally) in the Subjunctive Mood after verbs expressing an action, or emotion of the mind, when the subjects of the principal and of the subordinate verbs are different.

EXAMPLES of principal verbs which govern the following verb in the
Subjunctive Mood—

aconsejar (to advise) alegrarse de que (to be glad that) avergonzarse de que (to be ashamed that) conceder (to grant) conseguir (to obtain) desear (to desire) esperar (to hope) evitar (to avoid) impedir (to hinder) mandar (to order) querer (to wish) rogar (to ask, to beg) sentir (to regret) temer (to fear) confiar en que (to trust)

N.B.—(a) If the 2nd verb should have the same subject, use the
Infinitive Mood, as—