Discussing Time

We have studied a number of situations in which we use the "subjunctive" form of the verb. This is the form of the verb which we first saw in "feeling" sentences. Let's take a fresh look at the charts for "A" and "E" verbs which we have been using.

"A" verbs   fact   feeling

present     A      E

past        ABA    ARA

"E" verbs   fact   feeling

present     E      A

past        IA     IERA 

When we talk about "time expressions", we are speaking of phrases which relate two events in time, with reference to each other. For example, we can say that something happens when something else happens. Or, we could say that something will happen as soon as something else happens. Here is a short list of some "time expressions."

• when - cuando
• as soon as - tan pronto como
• after - después de (que)
• until - hasta (que)
• while - mientras

• The boys took the suitcases to the hotel as soon as the plane arrived.
  Los muchachos llevaron las maletas al hotel tan pronto como el avión llegó.

We see that one event, the taking of the suitcases to the hotel, is related in time to the other event, the arrival of the plane.

There are certain circumstances when we use "time expressions" relating two events when we have to change the form of the verb. When we relate an event to something that hasn't happened yet, we are dealing with a reference event that isn't real (yet). When we refer to events that aren't real, we must use the "subjunctive" form of the verb in Spanish. We have seven basic patterns that are commonly used in determining when the subjunctive verb forms must be used with time expressions. First let's look at four of them. We'll use "as soon as" in our examples, but we could use any of the time expressions.

1. someone will do something as soon as something else happens (subjunctive)
2. someone is going to do something as soon as something else happens (subjunctive)
3. someone wants something to happen as soon as something else happens (subjunctive)
4. do something (a command) as soon as something else happens (subjunctive)

We can see that in order to be able to do these sentences, we will have to know how to use the future ("will") forms, the "feeling" sentences and the subjunctive verb forms needed to express them, and the command forms.

LLEVAR

command forms      tú          usted       ustedes (plural)

affirmative        lleva       lleve       lleven

negative           no lleves   no lleven   no lleven 

Another thing to remember is that we place object pronouns (it, them, etc.), after affirmative commands, attached to the verb, but negative commands have the object pronouns before the verb.

Let's see how we would follow these patterns, using the same sentence that we saw in the example above.

• Los muchachos llevarán las maletas al hotel tan pronto como el avión llegue.
• Los muchachos van a llevar las maletas al hotel tan pronto como el avión llegue.
• Yo quiero que los muchachos lleven las maletas al hotel tan pronto como el avión llegue.
• Muchachos, lleven las maletas al hotel tan pronto como el avión llegue.

Remember, that with verbs that end in "-gar", we have to add a silent "u" after the "g" when it is followed with "e" in order to preserve the "hard" pronunciation of the "g". Otherwise, the pronunciation of the "g" would change and be pronounced similar to the way that we pronounce "h" in English. We change the spelling in verb forms where either "g" or "c" is involved, to keep the pronunciation from changing.

Notice that in each case, we are speaking of an action which will happen in the future. The first two examples, "will do" and "are going to do" are obvious. The third and fourth ones, however, may require a little thought. When we say that someone "wants to do" something or "wants someone else to do" something, the "doing" of the action, isn't happening yet. If it is done, it will happen later, in the future. The same thing applies when we use a command. When we tell someone to "do something", they are not doing it yet. If they actually do it, they will do it after the command is given, that is, in the future.

Some time expressions require the use of the word "que" when a "clause" follows. A "clause" is a phrase in a sentence, which has its own subject and verb. We don't always use "que" after these expressions. For example:

...después de la fiesta (after the party)
...después de que el avión llega

Notice that when we have a verb in the phrase, "the plane arrives", we did not put "que". If we only have a noun (or an infinitive) we don't include the word "que".

This would be a good time to review some of the irregular verbs. Notice the chart for the verb "to bring".

TRAER

Regular           Subjunctive

traigo            traiga
traes             traigas
trae              traiga
traemos           traigamos
traen             traigan

Notice that when the "yo" fact form ends in "-go", all of the "feeling" forms ("subjunctive" forms), will have the letter "g" included.

The verb "hacer" ("to do/make") has a number of irregular forms.
HACER

     
fact     feeling

hago     haga
haces    hagas
hace     haga
hacemos  hagamos
hacen    hagan 

In addition to these basic forms of "hacer", we need to remember that the future "stem" for the "will" and "would" forms is "har-" instead of the complete infinitive.

"Will" and "Would" Forms of "HACER" 

haré        haría
harás       harías
hará        haría
haremos     haríamos
harán       harían 

Now let's take a look at the way that sentences with time expressions work in the past tense. In the past, we have three patterns to learn.
The first pattern that we want to look at is identified with the word "would". Let's look at an example.

• I thought that John would help us as soon as he could.

Notice that that the "time expression" could be something else, and the basic pattern would still be the same. We could have said, "when", etc.

"Would" is the past of "will". With the "will" pattern, we used the present subjunctive in the part of the sentence after the "time expression". This pattern is similar, but with "would" we use the past subjunctive in the part of the sentence that follows the "time expression". In other words, this pattern, the fifth one that we have seen, is really a past tense "reflection" of the first one.

• Yo creía que Juan nos ayudaría tan pronto como él pudiera.

The sixth pattern is the past "reflection" of pattern two. Compare the following sentences.

• Yo creo que Juan nos ayudará tan pronto como él pueda.
  I think that that John will help us as soon as he can.

• Yo creía que Juan nos ayudaría tan pronto como él pudiera.
  I thought that John would help us as soon as he could.

Now we have the comparison between pattern three and pattern seven. Let's look at the examples.

• Yo espero que Juan nos ayude tan pronto como él pueda.
  I hope that that John helps us as soon as he can.

• Yo esperaba que Juan nos ayudara tan pronto como él pudiera.
  I was hoping that John would help us as soon as he could.

Notice that these three patterns, "will do", "is going to do", "want to do" (or "want someone to do") have parallel patterns in the past tense. With the present patterns, after the time expression we use the present subjunctive. With the past patterns, we use the past subjunctive.

Now let's look at the fourth pattern. Remember that in this case, we use a command. With patterns five, six, and seven, we were just shifting the number one, two, and three patterns into the past. We can't logically make a command in the past. Therefore, there isn't an eighth pattern which would be parallel to pattern four. Here is a complete list of the patterns for sentences in which we need to use the subjunctive verb forms after "time expressions".

pattern #1

• someone will do something as soon as something else happens (subjunctive)

pattern #2

• someone is going to do something as soon as something else happens (subjunctive)

pattern #3

• a someone wants to do something as soon as something else happens (subjunctive)

pattern #3

• someone wants someone else to do something as soon as something else happens (subjunctive)

pattern #4

• do something (a command) as soon as something else happens (subjunctive)

pattern #5

• someone would do something as soon as something else happened (past subjunctive)

pattern #6

• someone was going to do something as soon as something else happened (past subjunctive)

pattern #7

• a someone wanted to do something as soon as something else happened (past subjunctive)

pattern #7

• someone wanted someone else to do something as soon as something else happened (past subjunctive)

The third and seventh pattern each have two variations. We can either say that "someone wants to do something" (himself), or "someone wants someone else to do something". Look at the following examples.

• I want to pick up the suitcases as soon as the plane arrives.
  Yo quiero recoger las maletas tan pronto como el avión llegue.

• I want John to pick up the suitcases as soon as the plane arrives.
  Yo quiero que Juan recoja las maletas tan pronto como el avión llegue.

Notice that in the second case, we would have two subjunctive verbs in the same sentence. They would be used for different reasons however. The past "reflection" of these possibilities would be as follows.

• Yo quería recoger las maletas tan pronto como el avión llegara.
  I wanted to pick up the suitcases as soon as the plane arrived.

• Yo quería que Juan recogiera las maletas tan pronto como el avión llegara.
  I wanted John to pick up the suitcases as soon as the plane arrived.

Let's put this together and see how all seven (or nine) patterns would be. We'll use the verb "tener" ("have"). Here are the forms of "have" displayed in charts.

TENER

present       fact           feeling
              tengo          tenga  
              tienes         tengas
              tiene          tenga
              tenemos        tengamos
              tienen         tengan
 
past          tenía          tuviera
              tenías         tuvieras
              tenía          tuviera
              teníamos       tuviéramos
              tenían         tuvieran
 
commands      tú             usted            ustedes 

affirmative   ten            tenga            tengan
negative      no tengas      no tenga         no tengan 

Another irregular verb which we use frequently is "to go".

IR

               fact           feeling

present        voy            vaya
               vas            vayas
               va             vaya  
               vamos          vayamos
               van            vayan                            

past           iba            fuera
               ibas           fueras
               iba            fuera
               íbamos         fuéramos
               iban           fueran      
                

commands       tú             usted           ustedes
 
affirmative    ve             vaya            vayan
negative       no vayas       no vaya         no vayan 

example sentences 1
example sentences 2