Spanish: An Essential Grammar

Notes: Excepto queandsalvo quecan also mean ‘unless’, in which case they take

the subjunctive: salvo que él insista ‘unless he insists’. However, when they mean

‘except for the fact that’ they take the indicative: Es un buen muchacho salvo que

miente ‘He is a good lad except that he tells lies’.

Sin que‘without’

Tienes que entrar sin que nadie te vea.

You have to go in without anyone seeing you.

Note: In negative sentences sin que means ‘unless’: ¡No lo mande sin que se firme!

‘Do not send it unless someone signs it!’.

Conjunctions expressing supposition

The most common of these is en caso de que‘in case’, athough(en el)

supuesto que‘supposing that’ may also be encountered in literary or formal

contexts:

Sal temprano en caso de que haya un atasco.

Leave early in case there is a traffic jam.

Note: Suponiendo queexpresses supposition, with a subjunctivewhen stating a

hypothesis: suponiendo que lleguen a tiempo‘assuming they arrive in time’, and

with an indicativewhen accepting something as fact: suponiendo que ha sido él

‘assuming it was him’.

Antes (de) que‘before’

This is the only common temporal conjunction that is alwaysfollowed by

the subjunctive, whatever the tense in the main clause:

Pagó el impuesto mucho antes (de) que fuese necesario.

He paid the tax long before it was necessary.

Conjunctions that are followed by the subjunctive or the

indicative

Temporal conjunctions

Examples of common temporal conjunctions are:

a medida que as en cuanto as soon as

cuando when hasta que until

12.2.2.1

12.2.2

12.2.1.6

12.2.1.5

12.2.1.4

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

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