Expressing Emotions with the Subjunctive

RELEVANT LESSON:

1. Subjunctive: Emotions and Irregular Verbs

Explanation

Quick Answer

The subjunctive (el subjuntivo) is one of the three moods in Spanish, the other two being the indicative and the imperative. The subjunctive is often used to talk about emotions.

WEIRDO

Many of the verbs and phrases that require the subjunctive fit into the acronym WEIRDO: Wishes, Emotions, Impersonal expressions, Recommendations, Doubt/Denial, and Ojalá. In this article, we're going to take a look at emotions.

Emotions

All sorts of emotions, including annoyance, anger, happiness, regret, sadness, fear, surprise, and ecstasy fall into this category. In essence, any personal reaction to a situation is emotional. The focus is not on a factual observation of a situation, but how it makes the subject feel. Since how a person feels is always subjective, you use the subjunctive.

Useful Verbs of Emotion

The following verbs are commonly used to express emotion.

Spanish	English	Spanish	English
alegrarse de	to be glad	gustar	to like
quejarse	to complain	encantar	to be delighted
lamentar	to regret	sentir	to feel
enojar	to make angry	maravillar	to astonish
sorprender	to surprise	estar contento, enojado, triste, etc.	to be glad, angry, sad, etc.
molestar	to annoy	temer	to fear
tener miedo de que	to be afraid that	extrañarse que	to be amazed that

Check out these examples of emotion verbs being used with the subjunctive.

examples
Me alegro de que sonrías. It makes me happy that you smile.
¿Les molesta que él escuche la música fuerte? Does it bother you that he listens to loud music?
Siento mucho que no puedan venir a la fiesta. I’m sorry that they can’t come to the party.