Practice some of the vocabulary from this song and the instances of the subjunctive and imperfect subjunctive moods using these flashcards, games and exercises.

Did you miss the analysis for this song? Find it here!

Activities

Vocabulary Excercises

We have chosen 20 words and phrases out of this song to form our vocabulary list, which can be found below. You can use the following activities to learn and practice this vocabulary.

Vocabulary Flashcards – Learn the vocabulary from this song with our sets of Spanish to English and English to Spanish flashcards, then test yourself with our interactive flashcards.

Vocabulary Games – Practice the vocabulary for this song using our memory and matching games and our word search puzzle.

Vocabulary Exercises – Fill in the missing vocabulary with drag and drop and fill in the blanks exercises.

Grammar Exercises

This song provided a handful of verbs in both the subjunctive and the imperfect subjunctive moods. While it isn’t a ton to practice, as it’s pretty rare to see the imperfect subjunctive in songs I’m taking full advantage of the opportunity. A refresher of the subjunctive and imperfect subjunctive, as well as information on why the subjunctive is appropriate/necessary in each instance can be found below.

You can use the following activities to learn and practice these verbs:

Subjunctive Flashcards – Practice the subjunctive verbs in this song with our sets of Spanish to English and English to Spanish flashcards, then test yourself with our interactive flashcards.

Subjunctive Games – Practice the subjunctive verbs in this song using our memory and matching games.

Subjunctive Exercises – Practice the subjunctive verbs in this song using our drag and drop, fill in, and highlighting exercises.

Resources

Vocabulary List

Term	Meaning	P of S	Context
apasionarse	love, be crazy about	reg verb	me apasiono
atrapar	to catch, capture	reg verb	atrapa
camino	road; way, path; journey, trip	masc noun	camino
capa de ozono	ozone layer	fem noun	capa de ozono
dar con	to find, stumble upon		di con
darse cuenta	to realize		darme cuenta
de la nada	out of nowhere, out of the blue		de la nada
deslumbrar	to blind, dazzle, leave speechless, blow away	reg verb	deslumbras
devolverse	turn back, go back, come back	stm chg verb	se pudiera devolver
dimensión	dimension; aspect; scope, extent, scale	fem noun	dimensión
duda	question; hesitation, doubt	fem noun	dudas
dueña	owner, proprietor, landlady; master	fem noun	dueña
existir	to exist, be; live	verb, reg	existiera
explicar	to explain	spl chg verb	explicar
faltar	to lack, be short of, not have enough; be missing	reg verb	faltaba
llevarse	to take, steal; get along, hit it off; be in style/fashion	reg verb	te llevarás
por ahí	around there; that way; somewhere; over there		por ahí
por más que	no matter how much		por má’ que
soledad	solitude, loneliness	fem noun	soledad
volverse	turn, become, get	stm chg verb	se volvieron

Present Subjunctive

The Spanish subjunctive mood is used to indicate some sort of subjectivity, uncertainty, or unreality in the mind of the speaker. Feelings like doubt and desire and expressions of necessity, possibility, and judgment all require the subjunctive.

To form the subjunctive, first, find the stem by removing the final ‘-o’ from the present tense ‘yo’ form. Then add the following verb endings:

Subject	-AR Verbs	-ER and -IR Verbs
1st person singular – yo	-e	-a
2nd person singular – tú	-es	-as
3rd person singular – él, ella, Ud	-e	-a
1st person plural – nosotros	-emos	-amos
2nd person plural – vosotros	-éis	-áis
3rd person plural – ellos, ellas, Uds	-en	-an

Irregularities

There are six verbs that are truly irregular in the subjunctive: dar, estar, ser, haber, ir, and saber. We see ‘estar’ in this song.

Verbs with spelling changes are more complicated in the subjunctive. Verbs ending in ‘-ar’ and ‘-er’ maintain the same spelling change to all forms except ‘nosotros’ and ‘vosostros’, as in the present tense. However, the spelling changes of verbs ending in ‘-ir’ work differently in the subjunctive. The only verb with a spelling change we see in this song is ‘entender’, which, as an ‘-er’ verb, follows the present tense rules for spelling changes.

Conjugations

Following are the full conjugations of the present subjunctive verbs that appear in this song.

estar: to be

	Singular	Plural
1st Person	(yo) esté	(nosotros) estemos
2nd Person	(tú) estés	(vosotros) estéis
3rd Person	él/ella/usted esté	ellos/ellas/ustedes estén

caminar: to walk

	Singular	Plural
1st Person	(yo) camine	(nosotros) caminemos
2nd Person	(tú) camines	(vosotros) caminéis
3rd Person	él/ella/usted camine	ellos/ellas/ustedes caminen

entender – to understand

	Singular	Plural
1st Person	(yo) entienda	(nosotros) entendamos
2nd Person	(tú) entiendas	(vosotros) entendáis
3rd Person	él/ella/usted entienda	ellos/ellas/ustedes entiendan

Imperfect Subjunctive

The Spanish imperfect subjunctive mood is used to indicate the same subjectivity, uncertainty, or unreality as the present subjunctive, just in the past. It is also necessary in some ‘si’ clauses, as seen in the examples below.

There are two complete sets of conjugations for the Spanish imperfect subjunctive. We’re only going to look at the -RA set of conjugations as it is more colloquial and more widely used. It is also the conjugation seen in this song.

To form the imperfect subjunctive, first find the stem by taking the third person plural preterite form of any regular, irregular, or stem-changing verb, and dropping the ‘-ron’ ending. Then add the appropriate ending:

Subject	Ending
1st person singular – yo	-ra
2nd person singular – tú	-ras
3rd person singular – él, ella, Ud	-ra
1st person plural – nosotros	-´ramos*
2nd person plural – vosotros	-rais
3rd person plural – ellos, ellas, Uds	-ran

Conjugations

Following are the full conjugations of the imperfect subjunctive verbs that appear in this song.

poder: to be able to

	Singular	Plural
1st Person	(yo) pudiera	(nosotros) pudiéramos
2nd Person	(tú) pudieras	(vosotros) pudierais
éis3rd Person	él/ella/usted pudiera	ellos/ellas/ustedes pudieran

existir: to exist, be; live

	Singular	Plural
1st Person	(yo) existiera	(nosotros) existiéramos
2nd Person	(tú) existieras	(vosotros) existierais
3rd Person	él/ella/usted existiera	ellos/ellas/ustedes existieran

Subjunctive Triggers

‘de dónde estés‘ – While use of the subjunctive is required with some conjunctions, others, such as ‘donde’ meaning ‘where’, can be followed by the indicative or the subjunctive mood, depending on the intended certainty and reality of the statement. The use of the subjunctive in this instance gives the meaning ‘wherever you are’, implying that that location is unknown to the speaker.

‘No habrá camino que camine‘ – The words ‘que camine’ form an adjective clause, meaning that they modify the noun ‘camino’, as an adjective would, giving more information about which specific ‘camino’ is being mentioned. Adjective clauses can use the indicative or the subjunctive, depending on the reality and existence of the noun being described. Here the subjunctive was used as he is saying there is no hypothetical path that exists that he would walk if she were not there with him.

‘para que entiendas’ – Some conjunctions always require the subjunctive. ‘Para que’, meaning ‘so that’ or ‘in order that’, is one of these.

‘Antes no creía que de verdad existiera alguien así’ – Phrases that convey a speaker’s knowledge, certainty, or what they consider to be obvious are considered real, and as such do not require the subjunctive. However, when negative they indicate doubt and therefore do take the subjunctive. The phrase ‘creer que’ is one of these. The speaker doubted the existence of this type of person, and therefore the subjunctive is used. As the verb ‘creer’ is conjugated in the imperfect tense the imperfect subjunctive is necessary.

‘Si se pudiera devolver el tiempo’ – ‘Si’ clauses are if-then sentences that express a condition to be met in order for a certain result to occur. Each type of si clause uses a specific combination of verb tenses and moods. One type of ‘si’ clause, which denotes a condition unlikely to be met, uses the imperfect subjunctive. The ‘si’ portion is written in the imperfect subjunctive, and the ‘then’ portion in the conditional. We see the conditional ‘then’ portion of this si clause on the following line, where the verb ‘hacer’ is in the conditional (haría).