Present subjunctive in vos form

Question

What is the rule for conjugating verbs in the vos form in the present subjunctive? If it varies by region, what are the differences?

Possible duplicate of How is the conjugation for the "vos" pronoun in forms beyond the present indicative? — jacobo, Apr 20 '18 at 08:26
@ukemi this question is from 2011 and the other is from 2017. If something is duplicated then that's the other question and again I don't think it makes sense to close old questions. — DGaleano, Apr 20 '18 at 13:19

Jaime Soto · Accepted Answer · 2011-12-08T13:51:27.853

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The Diccionario panhispánico de dudas explains that there are two major types of voseo:

Reverential voseo: archaic and ceremonial usage. Spanish speakers in the Americas are familiar with this type of voseo from historic and religious texts.
American dialectal voseo: the different forms of voseo from the Spanish dialects of the Americas.

The Diccionario panhispánico de dudas provides a detailed explanation of the regional variants (in Spanish) and includes a voseo conjugation table by country and tense for the verbs cantar, comer, and vivir . Wikipedia explains the regional differences in the use of voseo under the present subjunctive for the irregular verbs dormir and mentir:

Ríoplatense region (Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay), informal: cantés, comás, vivás, durmás, mintás
Ríoplatense region (Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay), formal: cantes, comas, vivas, duermas, mientas
Chile, Southern Perú (especially Arequipa), Northwestern Argentina: cantí(s), comái(s), vivái(s), durmái(s), mintái(s)
Western and Southern Bolivia (colla zone): cantes, comas, vivas, duermas, mientas
Northern and Eastern Bolivia (camba zone): cantés, comás, vivás, durmás, mintás
Northern Ecuadorian Coast (Esmeraldas): cantés, comás, vivás, durmás, mintás
Ecuadorian Sierra (Andes), parts of Northern Peru: cantés, comás, vivás, durmás, mintás or cantes, comas, vivas, duermas, mientas
Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Colombia (paisa and valluno dialects, Pacific coast), Venezuela (Andes): cantés, comás, vivás, durmás, mintás
Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras: cantés, comás, vivás, durmás, mintás or cantes, comas, vivas, duermas, mientas
Panama (Azuero), Venezuela (Zulia), reverential: canteís, comáis, viváis, durmáis, mintáis
Mexico (Chiapas and Tabasco) (rare): cantés, comás, vivás, durmás, mintás
Eastern Cuba (rare): cantés, comás, vivás, durmás, mintás

edited Dec 08 '11 at 13:51

answered Dec 07 '11 at 23:53

Jaime Soto

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Great find! My biggest confusion though is about irregular verbs, and those don't seem to be addressed in that list. – jrdioko Dec 08 '11 at 00:10
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The Wikipedia article on voseo contains examples for the irregular verbs dormir and mentir. I added those examples to the answer. Were you interested in the conjugation of another irregular verb? – Jaime Soto Dec 08 '11 at 00:51
I'd say rare for the ecuadorean coast too... I lived there 7 years. – Jose Luis Dec 08 '11 at 09:20
@Joze: I clarified in the answer that voseo is predominant on the Northern Ecuadorian coast (Esmeraldas), according to the RAE. It seems like there is a link between voseo in Esmeraldas and voseo in the Colombian Pacific coast. – Jaime Soto Dec 08 '11 at 13:55
@JaimeSoto: Now that you edited it with Esmeraldas I agree!! :-) – Jose Luis Dec 08 '11 at 13:58
@JaimeSoto: Ah that's helpful. It's a general rule for the subjunctive vos form that I'm looking for. For example, how do you know it's mintás instead of mentás or mientás? It seems like these cases are not quite regular, but not quite fully irregular :) – jrdioko Dec 08 '11 at 17:11
@jrdioko. If you know the vosotros forms, just remove the "i". So, from "(vosotros) mintáis", you get "(vos) mintás"; from (vosotros) "durmáis", you get "(vos) durmás" and so on. It almost always works. Of course you have to know the vosotros forms. And in some countries, these forms are not unheard of at all, but are considered substandard and uneducated. Here in Argentina, for example, the educated standard for subjunctive is using the same conjugation for vos and tú, although the pronoun itself (tú) is never used. So you'd say "vos no digas nada", but not "vos no digás nada". – Juan Pablo Califano Jan 09 '13 at 11:10

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited Nov 22 '11 at 08:28

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It is generally conjugated as the second person, or like the 'vosotros' conjugation (second plural), but wihout the last i.

La ley requiere que (vos) tengas 18 años para votar.

Second person: (tu) tengas Second plural: (vosotros) tengáis

Te dije que (vos) lo pusieras sobre la mesa.

Second person: (tu) pusieras Second plural: (vosotros) pusierais

edited Nov 22 '11 at 08:28

Jose Luis

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answered Nov 16 '11 at 00:51

Alpha

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I've never seen vosotros téngais or pusiérais, only tengáis or pusierais. – krubo Nov 20 '11 at 20:27

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Apr 18 '12 at 21:21

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There aren't any differences between the vos and tú forms in the present subjunctive. Any irregularity comes from the yo stem.

After that, the vos conjugation has an "s" just like the tú conjugation.

edited Apr 18 '12 at 21:21

César

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answered Nov 21 '11 at 11:39

user159

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Jaime Soto's answer above seems to indicate this isn't true in all cases. – jrdioko Dec 08 '11 at 17:13

score -1 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 16 '11 at 03:33

As pointed by Alpha, the conjugation is related to the second plural ('vosotros') (*). The general rule is to trim the last 'i'

tú comes (you eat) (second singular, standard form)

vosotros coméis (you eat) (second plural)

vos comés (you eat) (second singular, with 'voseo')

In the imperative, the final 'd' is suppresed

eh, tú, espera (hey, you, wait)

eh, vosotros, esperad

eh, vos, esperá

And, as always, there are some irregularities, eg

" tú, dime" "vosotros, decidme" "vos, decime" (hey, you, tell me)

(*) To make things more confusing, 'vosotros' is not much used in some regions with 'voseo', as Argentina; here, we mostly use 'ustedes' as second plural pronoun, plural form of 'usted' (respectful second person). Both 'usted'/'ustedes' are conjugated as third person.

Thanks for the explanation of voseo. I was actually looking for rules for the present subjunctive (e.g. "Quiero que vos (venir) conmigo.") — jrdioko, Nov 16 '11 at 03:39
@jrdioko: venir would be conjugated as vos vengás, vos vengas, vos vengái, or vos vengáis depending on the region. See my answer. — Jaime Soto, Dec 08 '11 at 00:54

Present subjunctive in vos form

4 Answers4