Subjunctive: Evolution from Classical Latin to Spanish

by María Constanza Pérez

IV. Spanish and Subjunctive

Latin had four classes of verbs differentiated by the thematic vowel of the infinitive ending:

• -âre verbs were the most stable and numerous.
• -êre and -ere verbs were merged in Castilian in one conjugation type:

debêre => deber to have to, must;
sapere => saber to know;
• -îre verbs formed the third conjugation in Castilian:

dormîre => dormir to sleep.

• The present subjunctive of -âre Latin verbs developed regularly into Castilian;
• Latin -êre verbs which lost the yod [j] in the first person singular of the indicative likewise lost it throughout the present subjunctive:

CL timêam (-ê- is short for the accent) => VL timja(m) => Sp. tema that I fear;
• The verbs that retained the yod [j], either represented by a velar consonant or the palatalized preceding consonant, also retained it in the subjunctive: .

CL tenêam (-ê- is short for the accent) => VL tenja(m) => Sp. tenga that I have;
• Other than the retention of the yod [j], the -êre and the -ere (short and long e) verbs merged in the subjunctive, just as they did in the indicative, and developed etymologically in Castilian;
• Latin -îre verbs contained a flexional yod [j] which was dropped in the singular and third person plural forms in Castilian. The first and second persons plural stem vowel was raised by the yod [j], due to the fact that the yod was in a tonic position and could exercise more influence.

In Spanish the stem of the first person singular present indicative is generally the stem in the present subjunctive. Spanish forms the present subjunctive by dropping the ending of first person singular present indicative and adding the above personal endings to stem:
 
 
1. Verb Changing in Spanish
 

Conjugation	Infinitive	Present Indicative	Present Subjunctive
1st	cantar to sing	amo	ame
2nd	vender to sell	vendo	venda
3rd	partir to leave	parto	parta

 
 
2. Conjugation Changing in Spanish
 

	Languages	Conjugation	Singular			Plural
			1st p.	2nd p.	3rd p.	1st p.	2nd p.	3rd p.
	Spaniish	1st Conjugation.	-e	-es	-e	-emos	-éis	-en
			cante	cantes	cante	cantemos	cantéis	canten
		2nd - 3rd Conj.	-a	-as	-a	-amos	-áis	-an
			venda	vendas	venda	vendamos	vendáis	vendan
			parta	partas	parta	partamos	partáis	partan
	French	All Conjugations	-e	-es	-e	-ions	-iez	-ent
			chante	chantes	chante	chantions	chantiez	chantent
			vende	vendes	vende	vendions	vendiez	vendent
			parte	partes	parte	partions	partiez	partent
	Italian	1st Conjugation	-i	-i	-i	-iamo	-iate	-ino
			canti	canti	canti	cantiamo	cantiate	cantino
		2nd - 3rd Conj.	-a	-a	-a	-iamo	-iate	-ano
			venda	venda	venda	vendiamo	vendiate	vendano
			parta	parta	parta	partiamo	partiate	partano

 
 
3. Radical Changing Verbs in Spanish

• As the stress falls on the root of Spanish verbs in the same persons of the present subjunctive that it does in the present indicative, the radical vowel vowel e => ie and o => ue.
• In addition, in the third conjugation only (-ir), radical changing verbs change radical e to i and radical o to u in the first and second persons plural of the present subjunctive, even though the stress does not fall on the root in these persons.
• Some third conjugation verbs change a radical e to i when stressed, or when a, ie, or io occurs in the following syllable of the verb.

The Latin Imperfect subjunctive did not retain that function in the Ibero-Romance, where the forms of the Pluperfect subjunctive soon replaced it.
 

	Conjugations		Latin Imperfect Subjunctive		Spanish Imperfect Subjunctive I		Latin Pluperfect Subjunctive		Spanish Imperfect Subjunctive II
	-âre		cantarem cantares cantaret cantaremus cantaretis cantarent		cantara  cantaras cantara cantáramos cantaran cantaran		canta(vi)ssem canta(vi)isses canta(vi)isset canta(vi)issemus canta(vi)issetis canta(vi)issent		cantase  cantases  cantase  cantásemos  cantasen  cantasen
	-êre / -ere		perderem  perderes  perderet  perderemus  perderetis  perderent		perdiera perdieras perdiera perdiéramos perdieran perdieran		perdidissem perdidisses perdidisset perdidissemus perdidissetis perdidissent		perdiese  perdieses  perdiese  perdiésemos  perdiesen  perdiesen
	-íre		dormirem dormires dormiret dormiremus dormiretis dormirent		durmiera durmieras durmiera durmiéramos durmieran durmieran		dormivissem dormivisses dormivisset dormivissemus dormivissetis dormivissent		durmiese durmieses durmieses durmiésemos durmiesen durmiesen

 
 
 
C. Perfect Subjunctive in Spanish

• The function of the perfect subjunctive in Latin was assumed by the pluperfect subjunctive in Vulgar Latin, which then developed into the imperfect subjunctive in Romance.
• The perfect aspect of the Latin tenses was taken over in Romance by new analytical forms. The major differences in the two forms which merged was the long ô of the future perfect and the long î 's of the flexions of the perfect subjunctive.
• The forms of the perfect subjunctive were very similar to those of the future perfect indicative and the two forms merged, blending the mood of the former and the future tense of the latter to create a new Romance tense, the future subjunctive.
• The subsequent confusion then may be blamed for the fusion of the two forms. This occurred only in Castilian. Indeed, the future subjunctive has fallen from everyday use in Castilian, since the functions can be conveyed by the present subjunctive:
Sp. Cuando Ud. venga. When you come.

• The pluperfect nature of this Latin tense was assumed by analytical forms in Ibero-Romance.
• The forms were taken and adapted to a new function, that of the imperfect subjunctive. Since this tense was formed in Latin in a manner analogous with the previous tenses, i. e., the flexions (see inflection) added to the perfect stem, the changes from Latin to Ibero-Romance will also be analogous with those of the previous tenses.
• Still present is the raising of the stem vowel in the fourth conjugation in the Castilian verb.
• In most languages, a new conditional form replaces the subjunctive in "if" clauses. Thus, in Spanish, sentences of this type are seen:
Si yo tuviese bastante dinero, lo compraría. If I had enough money, I'd buy it.

• With the functions of the perfect Latin tense taken over by the preterite in Ibero-Romance, the present perfect concept, which the Latin tense also conveyed, was left wanting. In order to fill the gap, it was necessary to create a new form, a compound tense, using forms already available within the verbal system.
• The new tense consisted of the past participle and forms of the verb "to have". Since there existed two verbs in Latin with this meaning, habêre and tenêre. In Castilian haber assumed this function while tener retained the meaning of to have in the sense of to possess.
• The perfect subjunctive was changed to the compound:
habeam (teneam) cantatum => haya cantado that I have sung.
• The pluperfect subjunctive, like its indicative counterpart, was reconstructed in the compound mold:
habuissem (tenuissem) cantatum => hubiese cantado that I have sung.
• The forms of the Latin present subjunctive survived in all the languages with a good deal of syncretism with the indicative.
• In all the languages a 'past' subjunctive derives from the Latin pluperfect subjunctive:
CL. cantavissem => VL cantausse(m) / cantasse(m) => Sp. cantase, F. chantasse, It. cantasse.
• .In Spanish it is rivalled by forms deriving from the pluperfect indicative.

The cooptation, for new purposes, of structures that were developed for other purposes but then became redundant. This is one of the processes that have helped differentiate the Romance Languages.

• A remarkable feature of Castilian Spanish is the retention of two separate imperfect subjunctive forms (in -se and in -ra) for one function. The two forms in the standard language are stylistic variants, though the -ra form is preferred in some areas, especially in America, and in expressions of politeness (like quisiera 'I'd like').
• In very formal written Spanish the -ra form can also be used with pluperfect indicative meaning (which was normal in Old Spanish, but archaic by the seventh century).

Rhaeto-Romance varieties of the forms are used as 'conditionals':
VL. cantâre habeat => Fr. chanterait, Sp. cantaría;
VL. cantâre habuit => It. canterebbe.
• In Older Spanish (dying out in the eighteenth century), there is also a future subjunctive deriving from a merger between the Latin future perfect indicative and the perfect subjunctive:
L. cantavero / cantaverim => Sp. cantare.

• Any part of the verb is composed of two parts, the stem and the inflection (flexion). The stem, which is the constant part of the verb and contains the main concept, is not, however, invariable. The variations in the stem may be vocalic or consonantal.

Due to shifts of stress, the stem vowel may be tonic or atonic and as such, falls under the same phonological rules:
• The tonic quality of the stem vowel will generally cause open vowels to diphthongize in Spanish (see Occurrence of Diphthongs Replacing Stressed Short Vowels in Romance Languages).
• This changes give rise to the radical changing verbs, which are tonic in the singular and third person plural. In the atonic position the vowel does not diphthongize in Spanish.

This is most apparent in the treatment in velar stem endings :

• Verbs whose stems end in the voiceless velar c [k] before a back vowel in the present indicative retain this sound when followed by a front vowel in the present subjunctive by changing the orthography from c to qu:
L siccem => Sp. seque that I dry
• Voiced velar g [g], which changes orthographically to gu to retain the original sound by analogy with the infinitive and the present indicative:
L pacem => Sp. pague that I pay
• Velar g before a front vowel, pronounced [x] in Spanish which mantains the pronunciation before a back vowel by changing the spelling to j:
Pres. Ind. L corrigit => Sp. corrige he/she corrects
becomes
Pres. Subj. L corrigat => Sp. corrija that he/she correct.
• The letter c before a front vowel, pronounced [] (in some parts of Spain as [s]) retains the pronunciation before a back vowel by the orthographical change to z:
Pres. Ind. L vincit => Sp. vence, but Pres. Subj. L vincat => Sp. venza.