Variable Subjunctive

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Subjuntivo variable

Obviousness, knowledge, and certainty are considered real – at least to the speaker – and therefore do not call for the Spanish subjunctive. Using these verbs and expressions in the negative or interrogative, however, indicates doubt: thus the subjunctive is required.

These are the Spanish verbs and phrases that may or may not be followed by the subjunctive, depending on how they’re used:

conocer (a alguien) que		to know (someone) who
creer que		to believe that
decir que		to say that
es cierto que		it is certain that
es claro que		it’s clear that
es evidente que		it is obvious that
es seguro que		it is certain that
es una realidad		it’s a fact that
es un hecho		it’s a fact that
es verdad que		it is true that
estar cierto que		to be certain that
estar seguro de que		to be sure that
pensar que		to think that
saber que		to know that

Por ejemplo …

¿Crees que él sea triste?		Do you believe he’s sad?
Sí, creo que es triste.		Yes, I believe he’s sad.
No, no creo que sea triste.		No, I don’t believe he’s sad.

 In contrast, the verbs dudar (to doubt) and negar (to deny) take the subjunctive when they are affirmative, but not when they are negative.

Dudo que venga.		I doubt he’ll come.
No dudo que viene.		I don’t doubt that he’ll come.

 More Spanish subjunctive

• Introduction to the subjunctive
• Regular subjunctive conjugations
• Irregular subjunctive conjugations
• Subjunctive with conjunctions
• Subjunctive with adjective clauses
• The Sujunctivisor!
   

 En français

• Subjonctif
   

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