How and when is the subjunctive tense used?

The subjunctive, which is technically a 'mood', is a grammatical aspect that everyone struggles with (even students at university!), however after a little practice it is fairly easy to master.Firstly, the subjunctive is normally used in situations which are uncertain, hypothetical or subject to opinion. It is triggered by the use of certain verbs + ‘que’, particular phrases (I can provide you a list of these and exercises to help memorise them) or the presence of more than one subject (for example, ‘I hope that you..’). The verbs can be categorised using the acronym WEIRDO: Wishes, Emotions, Impersonal phrases, Recommendations, Doubt, Ojalá. To use the subjunctive, follow this method: Identify the verb in the sentence which requires the subjunctive using the above categories. Take the ‘yo’ form of the present tense and remove the ‘o’ ending. Then to what you have left, add the subjunctive ending. For AR verbs, these are ‘e, es, e, emos, éis, en’ and for IR or ER verbs, ‘a, as, a, amos, áis, an’. You may notice, it is as if the verb groups have simply swapped endings. For example, comer —> yo como - ‘o’ —> com + a = coma. There are also, as usual, a few irregular verbs (such as tener) which will have to be memorised. I hope that helps!