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Verbs Of Desire And Volition- The Use Of The Present Subjunctive In Noun Clauses
The subjunctive mood is used to express events or states that are not a part of the speaker’s reality or experience.
It is used to speak about things that are unreal, uncertain, or indefinite. One way that the present subjunctive is used is
to express the speaker’s desire or volition, that is, something that the speaker wants or wills. What one desires or
wills is not real or certain. It may or may not happen. It is indefinite.
Verbs of desire and volition are used in sentences with the present subjunctive. This kind of sentence has an
independent clause and a dependent noun clause. A dependent noun clause is a group of words that function as the
subject or the object of the verb in the independent clause. Independent noun clauses in Spanish are introduced by
the conjunction que.
There are 2 differences between the independent and dependent clauses. The first difference is the subject in the
independent clause is different from the subject in the dependent clause. The second difference is the independent
clause has a verb in the indicative mood while the dependent clause has a verb in the present subjunctive mood.

Bill quiere que Ann deje de fumar.

(Bill wants Ann to stop smoking.)

Independent Clause – Indicative Mood Dependent Noun Clause – Subjunctive Mood

bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
Subject – Bill Subject - Ann
Subject
Bill quiere que Ann deje de fumar.

Here is a list of some verbs that express desire and volition.

permitir – to permit Los doctores no me permiten que The doctors don’t permit me to
fume. smoke.
insistir en – to insist on Insistimos en que vaya al hospital We insist that you go to the hospital.
.
preferir – to prefer Prefiere que su madre viva en España. He prefers that his mother live in
Spain.
exigir – to demand Les exigen que los niños regresen a They demand that the children return
las cinco de la tarde. at 5:00 p.m.
rogar – to pray Le rogamos que ella esté bien. We pray that she is well.

sugerir – to suggest Le sugieren a Brenda que compre el They suggest that Brenda buy the red
coche rojo. car.

Here are some more verbs of desire and volition.

advertir – to warn alentar – to encourage convencer – to convince decir – to tell, say

decidir – to decide dejar – to allow desear - to desire disponer – to stipulate
impedir – to prevent inducir – to induce mandar– to order necesitar – to need
prohibir – to prohibit proponerse – to propose requerir – to require pedir – to ask

Free handout from http://sites.google.com/site/englishspanishhelpfulhandouts. Written by S. Watson.

Photos: www.morguefile.com.
English-Spanish Helpful Handouts Page 2 of 2

Verbs Of Desire And Volition- The Use Of The Present Subjunctive In Noun Clauses

There are some verbs that can be used in both the indicative and subjunctive moods.

Decir is followed by a noun clause in the indicative mood when reporting what someone says.

Bill le dice que Joanna va al cine cada fin de semana.

(Bill says that Joanna goes to the movies every weekend.)

Decir is followed by a noun clause in the subjunctive mood when telling someone to do something.

Bill le dice a Joanna que lo busque en el cine a las cuatro de la tarde el sábado.
(Bill tells Joanna to meet him at the movies at 4:00p.m. on Saturday.)

Some verbs can be followed by the infinitve form of another verb or by a dependent noun clause in the subjunctive
without a change in meaning.

Les sugiero tomar el tren.

Les sugiero que tomen el tren.
(I suggest that they take the train.)

Here are some other verbs that can be followed by either the infinitive or subjunctive without a change in meaning.

dejar – to allow impedir – to prevent mandar – to order permtir – to permit prohibir – to forbid
rogar – to request, beg sugerir – to suggest

The verbs in the box above are always used with an indirect object pronoun when they are followed by the infinitive.
When they are followed by the subjunctive in a noun clause, the use of the indirect object pronoun is optional.

Practice.
Bill wills and desires many things. Use your imagination to create a noun clause in the
subjunctive mood for each sentence.

Bill me permite que yo _________________________________________________________

Bill insiste en que tú ___________________________________________________________

Bill prefiere que él ____________________________________________________________ Bill

Bill le exige que ella _______________________________________________________________________________

Bill nos ruega que nosotros _________________________________________________________________________

Bill les sugiere que ustedes __________________________________________________________________________

Bill les dice que ellos _______________________________________________________________________________

Free handout from http://sites.google.com/site/englishspanishhelpfulhandouts. Written by S. Watson.

Photos: www.morguefile.com.