¡Hola! ¿Qué tal?

Today we are going to practice the Spanish verb tense: El Pretérito Imperfecto de Subjuntivo.

Answers to all tasks involved in this lesson will be given at the end of the post and you can also follow a link with this post to watch the original theory video lesson on the same topic.

To go back and watch the original video lesson please follow this link:

Intermediate theory video lesson 20

1. First, let´s see if you know how to conjugate El Pretérito Imperfecto de Subjuntivo for all persons. I will say a person (yo, tú, nosotros, etc) and a verb and I would like you to make the two correct conjunctions of the verb .For example: “Tú / hablar” = “Hablara / Hablase”:

Él / comprar
Nosotros / salir
Usted / ver
Tú / trabajar
Ellos / estudiar
Yo / comer
Ustedes / vivir
Vosotros / escribir

2. Next, let´s practice some irregular verbs:

Él / ir
Nosotros / pedir
Usted / oir
Tú / saber
Ellos / tener
Yo / ser
Ustedes / estar
Vosotros / hacer

3. Now, I will say a few Spanish sentences in present tense and I would like you to put them into the past tense using El Pretérito Imperfecto de Subjuntivo. For example, if I say “No creo que tengas razón” you will have to say “No creía que tuvieras (or tuvieses) razón”:

Quizás Ana esté en su casa ahora.
No pienso que este libro sea interesante.
Busco personas que hablen chino.
Mi madre me dice que vaya a su casa cuando quiera.

4. Next, please tell me what theses Spanish sentences mean:

No estoy segura, pero posiblemente fuera la semana pasada cuando tu madre llamó por teléfono.
No pensaba que fueras a venir.
Buscábamos un coche que tuviera suficiente espacio para los cinco, pero no lo encontramos.
Me dijo que estaría aquí cuando me despertara.

5. Finally, can you say these sentences in Spanish?

I didn´t think he was so old.
Maybe we were asleep.
We wanted to buy something that reminded us of this trip.
We didn´t think that you needed to study so much.

Bueno, ya hemos terminado la clase práctica de hoy.

I hope you have enjoyed practicing this new Spanish grammar tense and feel clearer and more confident now with its use. As you see, we use it in the same way as El Presente de Subjuntivo, but when we are talking about the past. I recommend you try to make sentences practicing all of the different uses of El Subjuntivo that you know so you get used to the tense and then you will find a lot easier to use it in conversation.

Que paséis una buena semana!

I hope you are enjoying my weekly interactive Spanish lessons. Follow this link for many more great resources to help you learn and practice Spanish.

Answers:

1.
Comprara/comprase
Saliéramos/saliésemos
Viera/viese
Trabajaras/trabajases
Estudiaran/estudiasen
Comiera/comiese
Vivieran/viviesen
Escribierais/escribieseis

2.
Fuera/fuese
Pidiéramos/pidiésemos
Oyera/oyese
Supieras/supieses
Tuvieran/tuvieses
Fuera/fuese
Estuvieran/estuviesen
Hicierais/hicieseis

3.
Quizás Ana estuviera en su casa entonces.
No pensaba que este libro fuera interesante.
Buscaba personas que hablaran chino.
Mi madre me dijo que fuera a su casa cuando quisiera.

4.
I am not sure, but possibly it was last week when your mother called.
I didn´t think you were going to come.
We were looking for a car that had enough space for the five of us, but we didn´t find it.
He told me he would be here when I woke up.

5.
No pensaba que fuera tan mayor.
Quizás estuviéramos dormidos.
Queríamos comprar algo que nos recordara este viaje.
No pensábamos que necesitaras estudiar tanto.