What is the Spanish subjunctive and how do I use it?

The subjunctive is one of the Spanish 'moods' rather than tenses. Like the indicative there are present, imperfect, pluperfect, preterite and future forms of the subjunctive. It can often seem quite daunting to learn as in order to master it you need to remember the uses of the mood, the verb endings it uses, and the irregular verb forms. However, separating each element makes the task seem far more manageable.Uses- the acronym WEIRDO can be used to remember the most common uses of the subjunctive (wishes, emotions, impersonal expressions, recommendations/requests, doubt and denial, ojalá)Verb Endings- in many instances with regular verbs the subjunctive is formed by swapping -ER/-IR verb endings with -AR ones e.g.CAMINAR indiative- camino, caminas, camina, caminamos, camináis, caminanCAMINAR subjunctive-camine, camines, camine, caminemos, caminéis, caminenBEBER indicative- bebo, bebes, bebe, bebemos, bebéis, bebenBEBER subjunctive-beba, bebas. beba, bebamos, bebáis, bebanIrregulars-most irregulars involve similar stem changes in the nosotros ad vosotros forms of the verb so can be learnt fairly quickly with practice e.g. E=I pedimos-pidamos, pedís-pidáis