When I am about to introduce the present subjunctive, I often begin with the question at the head of this section - followed by the observation or reminder (because I always have told them to listen to my warnings...): "If not, they all your grammatical chickens are about to come home to roost." The Dalí-esque image aside, the Ud. command is the base for the present subjunctive in form, being the first-person singular of the present subjunctive. Likewise, the third-person plural of the preterite is the basis for deriving the first-person singular of the imperfect subjunctive.
The subjunctive is often the make-or-break moment for most people who study Spanish. The English language almost doesn't have the subjunctive any more -- but it abounds in Shakespeare and older literature.
For the purposes of this article, which is written to teachers and parents, counselors -- and last of all to students, the problem with learning or teaching the subjunctive is that it needs to be approached systematically and few textbooks really handle it efficiently.
First, students need to understand the difference between a tense and a mood. Tense refers to time -- when an action happens. Mood is the way that the action is viewed -- almost like an attitude. A command form is said to be in the imperative mood. An infinitive is a mood that reflects the "infinite" possibilities of the verb in that raw state-- before it is assigned a subject (person and number) and a tense. There are four forms of the subjunctive -- that is, the subjunctive exists in four tenses, but they are all equally subjunctive in mood.
Once students are willing to see the subjunctive as not being a tense in itself but a concept that has four tenses, they begin to open up and warm to the idea.
The subjunctive is not only about doubt or uncertainty. I like to show my students that the subjunctive is simply a form that is required in four different situations. Those situations each have their respective rules as to whether or not the subjunctive needs to be used. They are: Subordinated noun clauses, subordinated adjective clauses, after certain adverbial clauses and lastly in the "if" clause of hypothetical statements.
