When should you use the subjunctive mood in Spanish?

It's important to note that the subjunctive is a 'mood', as opposed to a 'tense', like the present, past or future. The rule about when we use the subjunctive tense, therefore, is not dictated by time but certain triggers. These triggers can be memorised using the acronym 'WEIRDO': Wishes, Emotions, Impersonal Expressions, Recommendations, Doubt and Denial, Ojalá'So, we know when any of these conditions are activated, or triggered, we need to use the subjunctive mood as opposed to the indicative . Let's look deeper into a few of these cases. Starting with 'W', or 'Wishes', you may look for verbs of wishing or wanting - to want, to hope, to ask for, 'desear', 'esperar', 'pedir'If we were to translate the sentence 'Paula wants you to clean the kitchen', which mood would we use? It is a wish, Paula's wish, that you clean the kitchen, therefore the subjunctive must be used. E.G. It's not 'Paula quiere que limpias la cocina' (indicative), but 'Paula quiere que limpies la cocina', the subjunctive moodMoving on to 'E' or 'Emotions', we might look for verbs of emotion - to be happy, to be annoyed, to love, 'alegrarse', 'enojarse', 'encantar'. For example, if you were to tell someone you were happy they were coming to dinner, you'd use the subjunctive, E.G. 'Me alegro de que vengas a cenar mañana''I', 'Impersonal Expressions', is perhaps one of the easiest triggers to spot. If a sentence starts 'It is + adjective + that', 'Es + adjectivo + que', i.e. 'It's surprising that, It's important that, It's fantastic that, 'es sorprendente que', 'es importante que', 'es fantástico que' then it will need the subjunctive.E.G. 'Es importante que sepas la verdad sobre tus padres'For the sake of time, I'll stop there but I hope I've explained in which cases one might look to use the subjunctive and some key words and phrases to watch out for so that you get it right every time.