E106 Master the Imperfect Subjunctive in Spanish in 20 Minutes!

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Hi everyone, how are you? Welcome to Progrespagnol, your training organization specializing in professional and travel Spanish.
I'm Josmari, and today we're going to talk about a very important topic for improving your Spanish: the imperfect subjunctive.
If you've already learned something about the subjunctive, you surely know that it's one of the most complicated topics for intermediate-level students. The problem isn't so much the conjugation, but rather when and how to use it.
If you want to review the present subjunctive, I recommend these episodes:
🎙 E11 - Subjunctive vs. Simple Future in Spanish: Uses of "cuando"
🎙 E23 - The Subjunctive vs. The Indicative in Spanish
🎙 E72 - Subjunctive vs. Indicative: The Secrets of Nuanced Expression
I'll leave the links in the description so you can listen to them later.
But today we'll focus on another widely used subjunctive tense in Spanish: the imperfect subjunctive.
📌 Important: If you want to follow this episode with the transcript, you'll find it in the description. And if you want to receive a table with the conjugations, subscribe to the newsletter. I can't share it on podcast platforms, so if you want this extra help, join here 👉⁠ https://bit.ly/2ubyyZc⁠
Now, let's get started! 🚀

1️⃣ When do we use the imperfect subjunctive?
📌 Rule 1: When the main clause is in the past or simple conditional. If the main action is in the past or conditional, we use the imperfect subjunctive in the subordinate clause.
📍 Example:
I want my parents to come → I wanted my parents to come.
I don't think the director would accept the proposal → I didn't think the director would accept the proposal.

📌 Rule 2: Expressing a past action with verbs of emotion or judgment. If in the present tense we say, "I'm surprised you're going alone," in the past tense we would say:
📍 Example:
I'm surprised you went to the conference alone.
Pedro is upset that you didn't finish the report yesterday.

📌 Rule 3: To express politeness or prudence. We use the imperfect subjunctive with verbs like querer, poder, deber to sound more polite or formal.
📍 Example:
I could buy the tickets if necessary.
The driver would like to organize everything before the trip.

📌 Rule 4: After “as if” When we compare something to an unreal or imaginary situation, we use “as if” + the imperfect subjunctive.
📍 Example:
You speak Spanish as if you were a native.
The lady at the Airbnb treated me like I was family.

2️⃣ How do you form the imperfect subjunctive?
💡 Good news! Formation is easy if you follow these 3 steps:
1️⃣ Take the 3rd person plural (they) from the simple past tense.
2️⃣ Drop the -ron ending.
3️⃣ Add the -ra / -se endings (both are correct!).
📍 Example with “hablar”
They spoke → hablara / hablase

📍 Example with “tener”
They had → tenga / tuviese

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