Imperfect Subjunctive: -Ra Forms | Spanish (Latin America) Grammar

The imperfect subjunctive (imperfecto de subjuntivo) is the past-tense form of the subjunctive mood. In Latin American Spanish, the -ra forms are by far the most common, used in both spoken and written language.

Formation

The formation rule is surprisingly simple and works for every verb in the language, regular or irregular:

Take the third person plural (ellos/ellas/ustedes) of the preterite.
Drop the -ron ending.
Add the -ra endings: -ra, -ras, -ra, -ramos, -ran.

The only wrinkle is that the nosotros form requires a written accent on the vowel before the ending.

hablar → hablaron → hablara

to speak → they spoke → (that) I spoke

The -Ra Endings

Subject	Ending
yo	-ra
tú	-ras
él / ella / usted	-ra
nosotros	-´ramos (with accent)
ellos / ellas / ustedes	-ran

Note that the yo and él/ella/usted forms are identical, just like in the present subjunctive.

Hablar (to speak)

Starting from hablaron, drop -ron to get the stem habla-, then add the endings:

Subject	Form
yo	hablara
tú	hablaras
él / ella / usted	hablara
nosotros	habláramos
ellos / ellas / ustedes	hablaran

Quería que hablaras con él.

I wanted you to speak with him.

Comer (to eat)

Third person plural preterite is comieron, so the stem is comie-:

Subject	Form
yo	comiera
tú	comieras
él / ella / usted	comiera
nosotros	comiéramos
ellos / ellas / ustedes	comieran

Esperaba que comieran antes de salir.

I was hoping that they would eat before leaving.

Vivir (to live)

Third person plural preterite is vivieron, so the stem is vivie-:

Subject	Form
yo	viviera
tú	vivieras
él / ella / usted	viviera
nosotros	viviéramos
ellos / ellas / ustedes	vivieran

Me gustaría que viviéramos cerca del mar.

I would like for us to live near the sea.

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The written accent on the nosotros form is essential. Without it, hablaramos would be stressed incorrectly. Always write habláramos, comiéramos, viviéramos.

Why Start from the Preterite?

Because the imperfect subjunctive is built from the third person plural preterite, any irregularity in that preterite form carries over automatically. This means you never have to memorize a separate set of irregular imperfect subjunctive stems — if you know the preterite, you already know the imperfect subjunctive.

No creí que llegaras tan temprano.

I didn't think you would arrive so early.

Nos pidieron que esperáramos un momento.

They asked us to wait a moment.

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The -ra forms overwhelmingly dominate in Latin American Spanish. Unless you are writing literature or reading older texts, you can use -ra forms exclusively without sounding unnatural.

See the -se forms for the alternative conjugation, and irregular verbs for how strong preterites behave.