Some Simple Subjunctive Tricks

Here’s some suuuuper-simple tricks for using the allegedly “advanced” subjunctive from Day 1 in Spanish class (and we had better use the subjunctive– and any other “advanced” grammar– from Day 1, because the more exposure kdis have to it, the easier it is for them to acquire).

FIRST, when we are creating a story– or an Invisible, or an OWI– you ask the kids for suggestions.  All we do is, we restate suggestions in the subjunctive, which is appropriate.

So, if this is “classical” TPRS, and our character has to go somewhere, we ask ¿adónde va la sirena? We solicit three suggestions and as each one comes up, we say es posible que la sirena vaya a Nueva York, then también es posible que vaya a la casa de Barack Obama, and finally es posible que vaya a San Diego.

We do our five-second pop-up by saying we say “vaya” instead of “va” because it’s not certain (yet) where the mermaid goes.

We can also do this with tener, querer, ser, etc: es posible que tenga un perro, es probable que quiera tener menos tarea,  and es posible que el hombre sea malo, etc.

If we are doing a Slavic-style OWI, we must first figure out how many characters there are.  We get suggestions, and we restate them, saying es posible que haya tres chicos or es posible que la chica tenga tres perros.

For teachers who are using fully unsheltered grammar — ie past tenses from Day 1– you can also use the past subjunctive, eg fue posible que la chica hiciera su tarea or ¿fue probable que el profesor no diera mucha tarea?

SECOND, when we are doing attendance, we talk about The Missing Kid.  So, if Johnny isn’t there, we say, clase, Johnny no está hoy. ¿Dónde está Johnny?  [kids make suggestions]  Clase, ¿es posible que Johnny esté en casa y esté enfermo? or ¿es posible que Johnny tenga una cita con el médico? or ¿es posible que Johnny vaya de excursión? 

For each of these, we ask questions, re-state answers (and negative answers) and make sure kids understand.

This is how it looks on the board:

THIRD, when we do weekend talk (“what are you/we going to do this weekend?”-type Q&A on Friday), we just add a wish to what a kid says, like this:

T: qué vas a hacer el sábado?

S: Voy a jugar Fortnite

T: ¡Espero que ganes/tengas éxito!

As always, we make sure the kids get the diff between “ganas” and “ganes.” With this and with The Missing Kid, we want to use one subjunctive form a lot per class (lots of reps). If we add one verb per class after 2-3 weeks they will have heard a fair bit of this appropriately.

We aren’t “teaching” the subjunctive to students who are expected to “master” it as a “unit.” We are just using it appropriately and meaningfully where it is necessary.  If we do this all year, the kids will develop a basic feel for it, which is really all they  need.

Eventually, after enough input, the kids will start using the subjunctive.  While they don’t, don’t worry: you can communicate just fine in Spanish without using it, and you don’t have to have a conscious explicit understanding of it to get the point. We know from research that a thing like mood is less important in the hierarchy of acquisition than is meaning, so learners will pay attention to word roots– eg. that hable  has to do with “talk”– before they tune into “oh, that e must mean incertitude or desire.”

Bill VanPatten recently called the Spanish subjunctive “peripheral,” meaning that while native speakers use it, it is not necessary for functional communication.  So…let’s use it and not worry about it.