Don't allow the term subjunctive to put you off. It may have all but disappeared in English though we still use it on occasions (“If I were you”), and is slowly slipping away in French, but it is still very much a mood to be reckoned with in Spanish, both in Spain and Spanish America. So it is a very necessary tool for correct expression in Spanish. Much as it is in Italian, in fact.

Before we embark on the subjunctive in Spanish, it is a good idea to see how complicated it is to express the subjunctive in English. You can be comforted by the fact that in Spanish the rules are logical whereas in English they are not. Examples in English: I want him to go / I wish he would go / It is necessary that he go / I am happy that he does it tomorrow.

Whereas the indicative (see unit 4) relates to clear knowledge and certainty, the subjunctive is linked to doubt, commands, uncertainty, desire, aspiration, risk, and danger. The indicative appears in both main and subordinate clauses but the subjunctive appears nearly always in subordinate ones. If we take the two following examples:

1. i Te he dicho que voy al cine I (have) told you I'm going to the movies

2. ii Te he dicho que vayas al cine I (have) told you to go to the movies

In the first sentence, we have a main clause (he dicho) and a subordinate clause (voy), both in the indicative.