Expressing emotions with the subjunctive
When you express an emotional reaction to what someone else does, Spanish requires the subjunctive. To do this, use a verb of emotion, followed by que, followed by the new subject and a subjunctive verb.
| Living together is difficult, but I love that we share the apartment. | La convivencia es difícil, pero me encanta que compartamos el piso. |
When using verbs like alegrarse de (to be glad about), make sure to keep the preposition de right before que.
| She is glad that her roommates always do the cleaning. | Ella se alegra de que sus compañeros de piso siempre hagan la limpieza. |
Verbs like gustar: dar rabia, fastidiar, and sorprender
Many emotional triggers work like the verb gustar, using an indirect object pronoun (like me, te, le, nos, os, les) before the verb. Common examples include dar rabia (to make angry), dar pena (to make sad), sorprender (to surprise), and fastidiar (to annoy).
| It makes me angry that you never pay the bills. | Me da rabia que tú nunca pagues las facturas. |
| It makes me sad that our cohabitation is so bad. | Me da pena que nuestra convivencia sea tan mala. |
| It annoys us that there is always a mess in the kitchen. | Nos fastidia que siempre haya desorden en la cocina. |
Estar harto de (to be fed up with)
You can also trigger the subjunctive with adjective phrases like estar harto de (to be fed up with). As with alegrarse de, remember to keep the de before que.
| We are fed up that they never help with the cleaning. | Estamos hartos de que ellos nunca ayuden con la limpieza. |
You can easily link different emotional reactions together to describe all your roommate woes:
| It surprises me that he does not clean, but it annoys me more that he lies. | Me sorprende que él no limpie, pero me fastidia más que mienta. |
