Spanish Past Subjunctive AR Spanish Verb Conjugation

Now we'll take a look at past subjunctive AR Spanish verb conjugation. Remember to practice with our free Spanish flashcards and language review games!

Spanish mini-course

To form the past subjunctive for AR verbs, you take the root of the verb and add the following endings:

-ara -áramos
-aras -arais
-ara -aran

Using the chart, let’s see if you can guess how these would work. Are you ready?

I wanted them to cook Yo quería que cocinaran
Maybe they helped Tal vez ayudaran
If she sent the documents… Si mandara los documentos
She wanted me to plan it. Ella quería que yo lo planeara
They insisted that I drive. Ellos insistieron en que yo manejara
Before he ate breakfast Antes que desayunara (él)
I didn’t believe that he walked Yo no creía que (él) caminara

Go ahead and repeat the endings one more time:

-ara -áramos
-aras -arais
-ara -aran

Now, one thing you need to know is that the past subjunctive also has an alternate set of endings and here they are:

-ase -ásemos
-ases -aseis
-ase -asen

Honestly, these endings are rarely used and if you don’t become fluent in them, you’ll still be able to communicate perfectly. In fact, many Americans don’t ever become really fluent at past subjunctive period. So, by going through these lessons and practicing, you’ll be a step ahead of the rest. If you’re a real overachiever, you may want to look at the alternate endings.

Here’s an example of a verbs conjugated with the alternate endings.

hablase hablásemos
hablases hablaseis
hablase hablasen

Now, before we finish this lesson, there’s one more item we need to hit. When you use “if” to trigger the Past Subjunctive, you generally use a “would” or “conditional” phrase to compliment it.

Let’s look at a few examples:

If I won a million dollars, I would by a nice car.
As I give you the Spanish equivalent, notice how I used the “if” and “past subjunctive” as well as the “would” clause.
Si ganara un millón de dólares, compraría un buen carro.

Let’s look at a couple more.

If I were retired, I would travel around the world.
Si fuera jubilado, viajaría por todo el mundo.

And finally:

If I were president, I would lower taxes.
Si fuera presidente, bajaría los impuestos.

Feel free to repeat this lesson as many times as you’d like, then move on to the other lessons to practice more.

Spanish Review

I doubted that he worked dudé que trabajara
we wanted him to win queríamos que ganara
they liked her to visit les gustaba que visitara
we needed them to wait necesitabamos que esperaran
you (Sra. Salinas) preferred them to sing prefería que cantaran
you all told us to walk nos dijeron que caminaramos
it was important that I study fue importante que estudiara
it was hard for him to teach fue dificil que enseñara
you (Lorena) were hoping that she would help esperabas que ayudara
I wished him to explain deseaba que explicara
she didn't believe that we would finish no creía que terminaramos
it was necessary for them to use era necesario que usaran
we asked you (Andres) to fix pedimos que arreglaras
you (Sr. Valdés) insisted that we eat breakfast insistió en que desayunaramos
it's possible that he paid es posible que pagara
you (Dario) don't think that she practiced no crees que practicara
...so that I needed ...para que necesitara
before we entered antes que entraramos
perhaps they cleaned tal vez limpiaran
unless you (Paola) delivered a menos que entregaras
hopefully you all listened ojalá que escucharan
as long as you (Sra. Escobar) ate dinner con tal de que cenara