How do you form the imperfect subjunctive in Spanish?
Every verb starts from the same place: the ellos form of the preterite, without -ron. Hablaron gives habla-, comieron gives comie-, vivieron gives vivie-. Then add -ra, -ras, -ra, -ramos, -rais, -ran or -se, -ses, -se, -semos, -seis, -sen: hablara, comiera, viviera; hablase, comiese, viviese.
The nosotros form always carries a written accent, on the syllable before the ending: habláramos, comiéramos, tuviéramos, fuésemos. The stress falls three syllables from the end, and a word stressed there always takes one.
Yo and él share a form, as in the imperfect: que yo hablara, que ella hablara. Add the subject when it is not clear.
| Person | -ra | -se |
|---|---|---|
| yo | hablara | hablase |
| tú | hablaras | hablases |
| él, ella, usted | hablara | hablase |
| nosotros | habláramos | hablásemos |
| vosotros | hablarais | hablaseis |
| ellos, ustedes | hablaran | hablasen |
Irregular verbs: the preterite does the work
There is nothing new to learn: the grammar describes these forms as built on the root of the preterite, following its third person plural — pusieron gives pusiera, tuvieron gives tuviera, vinieron gives viniera. Know the preterite and you know this tense; the irregular preterite has the stems.
The preterite's stem changes come along too: durmieron gives durmiera, pidieron gives pidiera, and the y of leyeron gives leyera.
Ser and ir share fuera, as they share fueron: si yo fuera tú (be), quería que fueras (go).
After j there is no i: dijeron gives dijera, trajeron gives trajera, condujeron gives condujera. The academies call trajiera vulgar and say dijiera does not belong to educated speech.
| Preterite (ellos) | Imperfect subjunctive |
|---|---|
| tuvieron, estuvieron, anduvieron | tuviera, estuviera, anduviera |
| pudieron, pusieron, supieron | pudiera, pusiera, supiera |
| hicieron, quisieron, vinieron | hiciera, quisiera, viniera |
| dijeron, trajeron, condujeron | dijera, trajera, condujera |
| fueron (ser and ir) | fuera |
| durmieron, pidieron, leyeron | durmiera, pidiera, leyera |
Hablara or hablase: is there a difference?
In nearly every sentence the two are interchangeable, and both are right everywhere: si tuviera or si tuviese, quería que vinieras or vinieses. The -ra form is the more frequent of the two — markedly so in the Americas, where -se can sound too elevated in the speech of some countries, though writers there use it widely. In written Spain the two alternate almost freely, and -ra is still ahead.
One job belongs to -ra alone. With querer, poder and deber it can stand in for the conditional: quisiera pedirle un favor (querría), pudiera ser como dices (podría), debieras esforzarte más (deberías). The -se form does not do this: pudiera ser como dices, not pudiese.
The two have different ancestors. The -ra form comes from a Latin past of the indicative (amaveram, I had loved) and the -se form from a Latin past subjunctive (amavissem); Spanish brought them together as one tense.
| Where | Which form |
|---|---|
| After si, como si, ojalá or a trigger | Both: si tuviera or si tuviese |
| A polite would with querer, poder or deber | Only -ra: quisiera, pudiera, debiera |
| The Americas | Both; -ra by a wide margin |
| Spain | Both; -ra more often |
When do you use the imperfect subjunctive?
A trigger in the past: the words that take the present subjunctive — querer que, pedir que, es importante que, para que, no creer que — take the imperfect subjunctive when they are in the past. Quiero que vengas becomes quería que vinieras; me pide que lo haga becomes me pidió que lo hiciera. A trigger in the conditional usually takes it too: me gustaría que vinieras.
The present can follow a past trigger when the thing is still ahead: me pidió que vaya a la fiesta says the party has not happened yet. In colloquial Chilean, Andean and River Plate speech the present goes further — yo no quería que te vayas — but that use has not reached formal registers, where Spanish prefers fueras. The quiz above never sets the two against each other.
An unlikely if takes it after si, with the conditional in the other half: si tuviera tiempo, iría — not si tendría, which the academies ask you to avoid. Si clauses has every pattern.
Como si takes the subjunctive's past forms, even when the rest of the sentence is in the present: habla como si lo supiera todo, se vistió como si fuese a ir a una fiesta.
Ojalá is used only with the subjunctive, and the tense says how real the wish is. The academies' own examples: ojalá todo salga bien (it still can), ojalá que cuantos me rodean fueran como tú (they are not), ojalá no lo hubiera hecho (it is done).
| After | Example |
|---|---|
| A trigger in the past | Quería que vinieras. |
| An unlikely if | Si tuviera tiempo, iría. |
| como si (as if) | Habla como si lo supiera todo. |
| ojalá, for a wish that is not true | Ojalá estuvieras aquí. |
| A polite would | Quisiera pedirle un favor. |
Why do English speakers get the imperfect subjunctive wrong?
English has almost no subjunctive left — if I were you is one of the last traces — so the Spanish form has nothing to lean on. The slips are predictable: the indicative after a past trigger (quería que venías), the conditional after si (si tendría), an i after the j (dijiera, trajiera), and nosotros without its accent (hablaramos for habláramos).
Our own grading data shows how often, though the count is still small. Nivelo grades every conversation turn and writing task against the grammar it uses. Across 8 learners and 37 imperfect subjunctive forms (recounted 24 September 2026), 57% were wrong — 58% at B2. Only the present subjunctive is harder in our count (66%). It covers every slip in the tense, form or use, and it is a count of our own learners, not a study.
What comes after the imperfect subjunctive?
The conditional is its partner in the unlikely if — si tuviera tiempo, iría — and the would that a polite quisiera stands in for. The present subjunctive is the same mood in the present: quiero que vengas, cuando llegue. Si clauses lays out every if-sentence, the irregular preterite has the stems this tense is built on, and preterite vs imperfect is the choice it inherits in the past. The imperfect tense is a different tense despite the name: hablaba, not hablara. Using the subjunctive without thinking is part of the step from B1 to B2: how to go from B1 to B2 is the plan. The free Spanish level test places you on the A1–C2 scale in five minutes.