Spanish: An Essential Grammar

(c) In the third pattern, the subjunctive is used after verbs such as: esperar

‘to hope’, odiar‘to hate’, preferir ‘to prefer’, sentir‘to regret/be sorry’, and

temer ‘to fear’. In this case, the subject in the English main clause is also

the subject in Spanish:

Espero que apruebe el examen. I hope he passes the exam.

Siento que haya estado enferma. I am sorry she has been ill.

(d) In the final pattern, the subjunctive clause follows de querather than

just que. This occurs after certain verbs used reflexively, such asalegrarse

‘to be happy’ and sorprenderse ‘to be surprised’, as well as tener miedo ‘to

be frightened’:

Se sorprendió de que hubiera tanta gente.

He was surprised that there were so many people.

Tendrá miedo de que me haya perdido.

She will be afraid that I have got lost.

Subjunctive after a relative pronoun referring to a negative

or unknown antecedent

The subjunctive is used when the relative pronoun introducing a subordi-

nate clause refers back to someone or something in the main clause that

does not exist or is not known. In English this occurs in sentences such as

‘There is no onewho knows me as she does’ (negative antecedent) and ‘Is

there anyonewho knows me as she does?’ (unknown antecedent). The

antecedent may be a person, thing, idea or place.

Negative antecedent

The identification of a negative antecedent is not usually a problem for

English-speaking students of Spanish:

No tienen ningún vestido que me guste.

They don’t have any dresses that I like.

No conozco a nadie que pueda hacerlo.

I don’t know anyone who can do it.

Indefinite antecedent

The identification of an unknown antecedent requires speakers of English

to make a distinction which is not explicitly indicated in their own

12.1.4.2

12.1.4.1

12.1.4

1111

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1011

1

12111

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

20111

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

30111

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

40

41111

12

Subjunctive
mood

150