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While looking at dictionary for conjugation, I saw this strange tense:

conocer – to know, to meet

...

Subjunctive

Imperfect
yo conociera
tú conocieras

Imperfect 2
yo conociese
tú conocieses

I'm confused about what "Imperfect 2" (italic text above) is.

Please don't post the answer in full Spanish or I'll have trouble understand it. I'm new to Spanish.

fedorqui
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iBug
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  • Actually the two ways are the same: dle.rae.es/?id=AMmujSR click in conjugar button. If you look the Pretérito imperfecto - subjuntivo conjugation are two ways to say –  Sep 06 '17 at 12:51

1 Answers1

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The -ra and -se forms are the two alternative forms of the imperfect past, subjunctive mood (I'm assuming you know what the subjunctive mood is; if not, it will pop up soon enough in your Spanish class). There are a number of questions dealing with these; check this one out for a nicely documented answer. They mean almost exactly the same (although people often prefer one over the other) and are also used almost interchangeably. In principle you will have to learn both.

As far as I know these forms have no proper "official" name, and there are no widely accepted names in grammars or textbooks. Calling them imperfect and imperfect 2 is an arbitrary choice.

pablodf76
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  • Just another question: Is the subjunctive mood the same in English and Spanish? I'm native to neither but I think I have a good knowledge of English (as a foreign language). – iBug Sep 06 '17 at 13:12
  • @iBug No, the subjunctive is used in Spanish significantly more than in English. It is a bad idea to associate the two too closely. – rjpond Sep 10 '17 at 20:49