Present Subjunctive To conjugate a verb in the present subjunctive, you must first remember what the indicative present yo form is. In the present subjunctive, instead of forming a stem from the infinitive, the stem is formed from the yo form of the present indicative. For many verbs, this will be the same as the infinitive stem, but for many others (all the spelling-changes, stem-changing, and irregulars), it will be different. How to Find the Present Subjunctive Stem present subjunctive stem = yo form Caber quepo poner pongo caer caigo Conocer conozco tener tengo hacer hago Traer traigo parecer parezco ver veo If the stem is irregular in the yo form of the present indicative, the subjunctive will maintain this “irregularity” throughout all of its conjugations (including all stem-changing -ir verbs). There are only 6 truly irregular verbs in the subjunctive. Dar ir ser haber estar saber DISHES Stem Changes in the Present Subjunctive 1. E to IE and O to UE stem changing -AR and -ER verbs All e-ie and o-ue stem-changing -AR and -ER verbs in the present indicative follow the same rules in the present subjunctive: all forms follow the stem change except for nosotros and vosotros. volar - vuele, vueles, vuele, volemos, voléis, vuelen querer - quiera, quieras, quiera, queramos, queráis, quieran 2. E to IE and O to UE stem changing -IR verbs All e-ie and o-ue stem-changing -IR verbs in the present indicative follow the same rules in the present subjunctive except the nosotros and vosotros forms where the e changes to i and the o changes to u. preferir - prefiera, prefieras, prefiera, prefiramos, prefiráis, prefieran dormir - duerma, duermas, duerma, durmamos, durmáis, duerman 3. E to I stem changing -IR verbs All e-i stem-changing -IR verbs in the present indicative maintain the stem-change in all forms. pedir - pida, pidas, pida, pidamos, pidáis, pidan servir - sirva, sirvas, sirva, sirvamos, sirváis, sirvan Spelling-changes All spelling changes in the preterit indicative are maintained in the present subjunctive. This is to maintain pronunciation of the infinitive. All verbs ending in -ger and -gir change the g to a j in all forms. proteger – proteja, protejas, proteja, protejamos, protejáis, protejan escoger - escoja, escojas, escoja, escojamos, escojáis, escojan exigir - exija, exijas, exija, exijamos, exijáis, exijan  All verbs ending in -car, -gar, and -zar change to qu, gu, and c respectively. explicar - explique, expliques, explique, expliquemos, expliquéis, expliquen llegar - llegue, llegues, llegue, lleguemos, lleguéis, lleguen empezar - empiece, empieces, empiece, empecemos, empecéis, empiecen