Gramatică · Verbe · B1 · 15 min

The subjunctive

que, che, să: the mood of wishes, feelings and doubt, and where the sisters disagree.

Deocamdată, explicațiile de aici sunt în engleză; exemplele sunt în toate limbile.

All six sisters kept Latin's present subjunctive, the mood for what is wished, feared, needed or doubted rather than stated. Its sign is a vowel swap: -ar verbs take an e, the others take an a (Romanian ă). Catalan replaced both with a single -i (canti, vengui). The subjunctive almost always follows que (che in Italian); Romanian marks it with să, from Latin SĪ 'if'.

Latin	Spanish	French	Italian	Portuguese	Romanian	Catalan
CANTET	que cante	qu'il chante	che canti	que cante	să cânte	que canti
VENDAT	que venda	qu'il vende	che venda	que venda	să vândă	que vengui
HABEAT	que haya	qu'il ait	che abbia	que haja	să aibă	que hagi
SIT (es, pt: SEDEAT; ro: FIAT)	que sea	qu'il soit	che sia	que seja	să fie	que sigui

Present subjunctive, 3rd person singular

What triggers it

Voglio che tu venga.
Quiero que vengas.
Je veux que tu viennes.
Quero que você venha.
Vreau să vii.
Vull que vinguis.
I want you to come.
Will: no 'want + object + infinitive' as in English. Italian often adds tu because venga serves three persons.
Sono contento che tu sia qui.
Me alegro de que estés aquí.
Je suis content que tu sois là.
Fico feliz que você esteja aqui.
Mă bucur că ești aici.
M'alegro que siguis aquí.
I'm glad you're here.
Emotion: subjunctive everywhere but Romanian, which states the fact with că + indicative.
Bisogna che parliamo.
Hace falta que hablemos.
Il faut qu'on parle.
Precisamos conversar.
Trebuie să vorbim.
Cal que parlem.
We need to talk.
Necessity. Il faut que and Catalan cal que are everyday subjunctive triggers; Portuguese prefers precisar + infinitive.
Non credo che sia vero.
No creo que sea verdad.
Je ne crois pas que ce soit vrai.
Não acho que seja verdade.
Nu cred că e adevărat.
No crec que sigui veritat.
I don't think it's true.
Doubt or a denied opinion: subjunctive in five sisters; Romanian usually keeps că + indicative.
Credo che sia vero.
Creo que es verdad.
Je crois que c'est vrai.
Acho que é verdade.
Cred că e adevărat.
Crec que és veritat.
I think it's true.
An affirmed opinion: indicative everywhere except Italian, which still uses the subjunctive.
Quando arrivi, chiamami.
Cuando llegues, llámame.
Quand tu arriveras, appelle-moi.
Quando você chegar, me liga.
Când ajungi, sună-mă.
Quan arribis, truca'm.
Call me when you get there.
A future 'when': Spanish and Catalan subjunctive, French future, Italian and Romanian present; Portuguese has a future subjunctive of its own (chegar).
Speriamo che faccia bel tempo.
Ojalá haga buen tiempo.
Pourvu qu'il fasse beau !
Tomara que faça sol.
Sper să fie vreme frumoasă.
Tant de bo que faci bon temps!
Let's hope the weather's nice.
Spanish ojalá comes from Arabic law šā' allāh 'if God wills'; Portuguese oxalá, rarer in Brazil than tomara, has the same Arabic source.

After…	Spanish	French	Italian	Portuguese	Romanian	Catalan
I want that…	subjunctive	subjunctive	subjunctive	subjunctive	subjunctive	subjunctive
I'm glad that…	subjunctive	subjunctive	subjunctive	subjunctive	indicative	subjunctive
it's necessary that…	subjunctive	subjunctive	subjunctive	subjunctive	subjunctive	subjunctive
I think that…	indicative	indicative	subjunctive	indicative	indicative	indicative
I don't think that…	subjunctive	subjunctive	subjunctive	subjunctive	usually indicative	subjunctive
before (antes de que / avant que / prima che / antes que / înainte să / abans que)	subjunctive	subjunctive	subjunctive	subjunctive	subjunctive	subjunctive
when (future)	subjunctive	future	present or future	future subjunctive	present or future	subjunctive

Indicative or subjunctive?

Infinitive or subjunctive?

Two sisters stretch the line between infinitive and subjunctive in opposite directions. Romanian, like its Balkan neighbors Greek and Bulgarian, replaced most infinitives with să + subjunctive: vreau să plec 'I want to leave' is literally 'I want that I leave'. Portuguese has a personal infinitive, an infinitive with person endings (para nós cantarmos 'for us to sing'), which often does the work of a subjunctive clause.

Voglio uscire.
Quiero salir.
Je veux sortir.
Quero sair.
Vreau să ies.
Vull sortir.
I want to go out.
Same subject, so an infinitive everywhere but Romanian, which says 'I want that I go out'.
È meglio che ve ne andiate.
Es mejor que os vayáis.
Il vaut mieux que vous partiez.
É melhor vocês irem embora.
E mai bine să plecați.
Val més que marxeu.
You'd better leave.
Portuguese irem is the personal infinitive of ir, with the 'they' ending to agree with vocês.

Surorile

Who kept the subjunctive most alive

Latin used the subjunctive in a great many dependent clauses, and the sisters have trimmed it to different degrees. Spanish is the most vigorous: it uses it for every future 'when' and keeps two living imperfect subjunctives, cantara (from the Latin pluperfect indicative CANTĀVERAM) and cantase (from the pluperfect subjunctive CANTĀVISSEM). Portuguese is as vigorous and adds a future subjunctive (quando eu cantar, se você puder), which Old Spanish also had (cantare); its imperfect subjunctive is cantasse, while its cantara kept the old Latin meaning, a (now literary) pluperfect 'I had sung'. Italian keeps the CANTĀVISSEM form alive as cantassi, and Catalan as cantés; Italian also stretches the present subjunctive to plain opinions (credo che sia), although relaxed speech increasingly says credo che è. Romanian uses să + subjunctive far more than anyone, in place of the infinitive, yet lost the imperfect subjunctive: CANTĀVISSEM lives on there as the pluperfect indicative cântasem 'I had sung'. French speech uses only the present subjunctive (and its compound past); que je chantasse survives only in literary prose.