Complete Spanish

Track 81

1. The mood tense exists only in present and past Overview

There is no future mood tense. There used to be, and a couple of words survive in fixed expressions, but for all practical purposes it is gone.

Also worth knowing: the past mood tense does not distinguish line from point. One form covers both.

2. Build the past mood tense from the "they" point past Rule

Always start from the they form of the point in the past, then change the final o to an a.

hablaron → hablaran  ·  comieron → comieran

From there work backwards for the other people, and the accent does not move.

hablara
I, he, she, it, you (formal)
hablaras
you (informal)
habláramos
we
comiera, comieras, comiéramos
the -er / -ir set
Why start from the they form rather than the "to" form? Because any irregularity in the point past carries straight over into the mood tense. That is the whole point of the route.

3. The same structures, now in the past Grammar

Where quiero que needs the present mood tense, quería que needs the past one.

Quería que comieran con nosotros · Esperaba que me llamara · Necesitábamos que hablara con nosotros · Volví a llamarte para que organizáramos

English says I was hoping that he would call me. Spanish says I was hoping that he called me, with the past mood tense.

Watch where que is and is not. Necesitábamos hablar con él needs no mood tense; necesitábamos que hablara con nosotros does. That que is the alert.

4. volver a, for "again" Rule

Besides otra vez, you can use volver a, literally to return to doing something. It is very common and has nothing to do with actually returning.

vuelve a cerrarse = it closes again

The a is there because volver is a verb of movement.

No quiero que vuelva a pasar · No quiero que la puerta vuelva a cerrarse · Volví a llamarte

5. Restructure to avoid the mood tense Method

A genuinely useful tactic while the past mood tense is still slow to build.

volví a llamarte para organizar
no mood tense needed
volví a llamarte para que organizáramos
mood tense required

Using a plain "to" form sidesteps it. Finding these forms is time-consuming at first, and much quicker once you have practised.

6. New vocabulary Vocabulary

ocurrir
to occur, to happen
suceder
to happen (succession)
la puerta
the door

Pasar, ocurrir and suceder all mean to happen, and pasar is the easiest.

Puerta is related to port: stress the o of port and it splits to give puerto, then change the o to an a for puerta.

No quiero que la puerta se me cierre otra vez